China Scene: South

Park alligators rapidly becoming white elephants

Business is bad at the alligator park in Chengmai county, Hainan province, that opened in 1999. The park, a Singaporean/Thai investment, housed more than 3,000 alligators, and drew throngs of tourists in the first few months after it opened in 1999. The lack of other nearby tourist attractions, however, caused a falling off visitors.

The danger posed to local inhabitants by the 2,000-plus hungry alligators in the park has also been a worry to the local government since 2004, when a gator weighing around 100 kg escaped and pursued buffalos on local farmland.