Chapter 1447 You're the Zookeeper!

Tan Xinzhang said, "That's my father, Tan Yingjiu, but he's old and hard of hearing; he can't hear people clearly. He doesn't interact with people much either. He just takes care of the animals all day long."

"He's not just the zookeeper; he's also the buyer, cleaner, ticket seller, veterinarian, animal caretaker, and tour guide… Every morning at five o'clock, he rides his tricycle to buy food for the animals. After he gets back, he cleans the enclosures, feeds them, and gives them water. Occasionally, he welcomes some visitors. He's busy from morning to night, day after day."

"I like animals too, and I often help him, but… he wants me to take over, and I don't think I can do it."

"After my father really passes away, I'll probably pack up all these animals and send them to other zoos. I won't do this anymore."

Pei Qian asked, "Is the economic benefit bad?"

Tan Xinzhang smiled bitterly. "It's more than just bad. It's purely losing money."

"The expense of raising animals is really too high. Pythons and crocodiles have to eat live food. Whether it's chickens or fish, they eat so much every day. Tibetan mastiffs, mules, and macaques are relatively better, but my father doesn't want to save money on them."

"Besides the ticket income, my father also puts in a lot of his own retirement money just to make sure these animals are fed well. But that's about it. Being able to feed them well is already very difficult. As for renovating the enclosures, we can't even think about it."

"The key is that my father lives worse than the animals. See that broken bungalow next to the enclosure? My father usually lives there. He just casually eats a few bites for his meals. It wouldn't matter if he were a few decades younger, but now that he's old, how can he keep doing this?"

"My parents divorced when I was young, and a big reason was this zoo."

"To be honest, I'm quite conflicted. I know my father's been through a lot, so I help him with his work as much as possible. But if I help too much, he always wants me to take over."

"But I think this zoo has no need to continue existing."

"This zoo used to be quite popular because the environment was relatively closed off, and the people in this small county had nowhere else to see animals. But now the economy is developed. Not to mention going to some large wildlife parks, it's also quite convenient to drive to Jingzhou Zoo to see animals, isn't it? Who would come to this kind of zoo?"

"The ticket money is getting less and less, which is enough to show that this kind of private zoo is no longer popular and should be eliminated."

"Although I also like animals, I'm also a person, and I have to live a normal life. I can't do what my father did, spending three or four decades of my life on these animals."

"Oh, I accidentally said too much. I shouldn't have talked about this. Come on, President Pei, I'll take you to see the animals."

Tan Xinzhang took Pei Qian to a few horses. The horses looked very energetic and were happily eating fodder.

After seeing Tan Xinzhang, a brown horse even put its head over, and after Tan Xinzhang touched its head, it happily snorted.

Then, they looked at the macaques and pythons raised indoors, which also looked very energetic. Especially the monkeys, who were jumping up and down asking for food. They looked more lively than the monkeys in some large zoos. It was hard to tell if this was just an illusion.

But inevitably, there was a very heavy smell, and the whole environment was really not good.

Although the old man Tan Yingjiu cleaned every day, with these conditions, it was impossible to have good sanitary conditions no matter how much he cleaned.

However, Pei Qian was not struggling with these things now. He was constantly thinking about what Tan Xinzhang had said.

This thing, pure loss of money!

It was even more optimistic than he had imagined!

Take this zoo as an example. The tickets were only 20 yuan. What can you do with 20 yuan these days? And these animals cost a lot of money to eat every day. Many carnivores have to eat live food, and the food costs are higher than humans.

If these animals have any problems, it will cost even more money.

Many people can't even keep a cat cafe open. The difficulty of raising wild animals is many times higher than that of a cat cafe.

But the old man Tan Yingjiu had persisted for thirty years and had even raised lions and ostriches. Without a strong will, belief, and love, he would definitely not be able to persist.

However, from Tan Xinzhang's words, Pei Qian also got some inspiration.

How can a zoo lose money?

The most important thing is that it must be small and cannot be too big.

Small zoos have fewer types of animals, so they don't seem very interesting. Even if ticket prices are reduced, it is impossible to achieve the effect of small profits but quick turnover.

In the past, because the economy was underdeveloped and transportation was blocked, some small zoos would have people visit. Now that transportation is so developed, not to mention zoos in foreign countries or ultra-first-tier cities, even the zoos in various prefecture-level cities can eat up most of the demand in Handong Province.

Therefore, small zoos with few animal species will only become less and less viable and gradually fall into a vicious cycle.

The old man Tan Yingjiu had spent most of his life in this zoo. Of course, he was unwilling to accept this reality, but Tan Xinzhang was a young man who could see things much more clearly than his father.

That's why Tan Xinzhang said that after his father passed away, he would close the zoo and just send the animals to other zoos.

He was also a person and had to live. The old man Tan Yingjiu's generation had already divorced because of this zoo. With Tan Xinzhang's current situation, if he continued to fight to the death with this zoo, he might not even be able to get married.

Pei Qian couldn't help but smile slightly. Wasn't this a coincidence?

Since you've met me, then we can have a good talk!

Pei Qian took a simple tour of the zoo and nodded with satisfaction. "Yes, not bad."

"I intend to move this entire zoo to Jingzhou. What do you think about you being the zookeeper?"

Tan Xinzhang was stunned for a moment. "Huh?"

He never expected that President Pei would say such a thing.

According to the most optimistic estimate, it would already be very good for President Pei to arrange for some employees to come and visit or to feel pity and donate some money to Tan Xinzhang.

Why move the zoo?

Anyone could see that this zoo had no value at all, right?

These few dilapidated houses should have been demolished long ago. As for the animals inside, although there were some wild animals, which zoo outside didn't have them? They weren't considered rare or precious either.

Moreover, letting him be the zookeeper? He wasn't the right material at all.

A zookeeper should be a university graduate with professional training, right?

Tan Xinzhang hurriedly said, "President Pei, this is not appropriate. If you want to open a zoo, just open one. These animals are not rare animals, it's not worth it."

"As for the zookeeper thing, it's even more inappropriate. Nowadays, opening a zoo requires scientific feeding and professional personnel. My father and I are both self-taught, and although we have learned some knowledge, we are still too far behind to be the zookeeper of a large zoo…"

Tan Xinzhang knew that if President Pei wanted to open a zoo, the scale would definitely not be small, otherwise it would not be in line with Tengda's style.

Pei Qian's expression was serious. "Hey, you can't say that."

"Animals are not about being rare or not. They are all equal. How can we favor one over the other? These animals have been with you and your son for so many years, and you must have some feelings for them. If they are sent to other zoos, there are so many animals, it will be difficult to be treated as well as they are now."

"My zoo will focus on experimentation in the early stages and will not rashly raise any rare animals. I think these animals are very good. Although they are very ordinary, they are very energetic and happy, and that's enough."

"As for the zookeeper thing, you don't have to worry. I think the most important thing is to have a heart that truly loves animals. Professional knowledge is easy to handle. I will arrange for a few professional people to assist you, such as caretakers and veterinarians. They are all professionals. You can ask them for any advice you need."

"You are the zookeeper, you don't need to worry about these trivial things."

"The key is that the spirit of you and your son is very touching to me!"

"Of course, I also understand your current situation very well. Don't worry, the place to be moved this time is not far from the Thriller Hostel. Although it is in the suburbs of Jingzhou, it is relatively lively and convenient to travel. At that time, you two will be formal employees of Tengda, and you will not be shortchanged on any benefits. These animals will also be better taken care of. At least their food and living environment will be greatly improved."

Tan Xinzhang's expression was a little confused.

This… of course, it all sounded good.

But the question was, what was President Pei trying to gain?

No matter how you looked at it, this seemed like a purely money-burning and completely meaningless behavior.

Seeing that Tan Xinzhang was still a little hesitant, Pei Qian said again, "How about this? You can sign a contract with Tengda first, and then I will allocate some funds to you. You can ask a few people to help the old man manage the zoo here. You can participate in the construction process of the new zoo in Jingzhou, so there is nothing to worry about, right?"

Tan Xinzhang thought about it, and that was indeed the case.

Although he couldn't think of a reason why President Pei would do this, he couldn't think of a reason why he would refuse.

"Okay, President Pei, then let's do this. I'll talk to my father about this first, do some ideological work on him, settle the affairs of the zoo here a little bit, and then go to Jingzhou to find you."

Pei Qian nodded. "Okay, just contact me directly when the time comes."

After picking the candidate for the zookeeper, Pei Qian didn't delay and took a car back directly.

Although the zookeeper had been decided, the specific operating model of this zoo still needed to be carefully considered.

Although this zoo was already losing money, Pei Qian didn't plan to completely copy this model, after all, the objective conditions had changed.

If this zoo continued to be opened here, even if he bought the whole thing, how much money could he burn? A drop in the bucket.

What Pei Qian was thinking about was to move the zoo to Jingzhou and explore an expandable way to burn money. Once this model was successfully tested, then all he needed to do was to continuously expand the scale, and he could keep burning money without limit, wouldn't that be wonderful?