Super Zoo

The concept of the national park was first proposed by the American artist George Catlin. In 1832, while traveling, he was deeply concerned about the impact of the great development of the western United States on Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness, believing that these traditional and natural things, as an intangible but important value, should be protected. The government should enact a series of protection policies to establish a large park that would include both humans and wild beasts, where everything would be kept in its original state, reflecting the beauty of nature.

Afterward, many countries around the world adopted this concept.

Although the details vary, the essence of a forest park is that of a large nature reserve, fundamentally different from zoos and parks.

Forest parks, although allowing human visitors, require that any human activity be based on not destroying the local original environment; the true natives and owners of the forest park are the natural environment and animals. It is impossible to change the environment to facilitate human visits; all policies and principles start with the notion of "keeping things as they are".

By contrast, zoos and parks cater mainly for human entertainment, with protection of the environment and animals a secondary—or even more distant—consideration.

Even though both claim the "natural" label, their developmental directions are not comparable.

In 1872, the United States Congress approved the establishment of America's, and the world's first national park, which is Yellowstone National Park.

The park, mainly located in Wyoming, is divided into five major regions and preserves the most original Old West landscapes, including natural Yellowstone Grand Canyon and waterfalls, one of the world's largest volcanic craters, the largest forest, and thousands of native species of flora and fauna.

Apart from a historical museum and roads, there are almost no other large man-made structures.

When humans enter a forest park, it is less a matter of tourism than of leaving human society to enter another, magical world—the natural world.

In Huaxia, forest parks are categorized into three levels: National Forest Park, provincial forest parks, and city/county forest parks. This time, for the area centered around the Qinling region's Orgrimmar Region, it was designated as the highest level of National Forest Park.

The primary significance and function of a forest park can be roughly summarized in three directions: preservation and protection of landscape resources; survey and research of resource environments; and the sustainable development of the travel and sightseeing industry.

Even from this definition, one can see that protection is first, research second, and tourism third.

Given the unique geographical location of Orgrimmar—deep in the Qinling, not easily accessible even to tourists or experienced hikers—the primary significance of this park still focuses on the first two aspects.

As for tourism, since humans have set foot here and Orgrimmar needs human help, it is actually inevitable.

At the meeting, a group of experts from the province proactively suggested that while tourism could be developed, there must be a long-term plan to rationally control the number and frequency of visitors—not to wring the Animal City dry for short-term gains.

There are too many painful lessons laid out there.

An originally nice old town or scenic area, once it starts to develop tourism, typically turns sour in a short time, losing its natural charm and becoming filled with noise and impetuosity.

"We must choose an experienced institution with long-term vision to be specifically responsible for investing in and managing this sanctuary," said a provincial expert.

After so much talk, we finally got to the meat of the discussion.

There are things that aren't appropriate to say bluntly at a meeting of this scale.

Orgrimmar was discovered by Suming of Yangchuan City, and even the very Animal City itself was built under the leadership of two pandas that had left from the Yangchuan City Zoo. With its various special features, it could practically be considered a small world wonder.

Such a miraculous Animal City, even without developing tourism, could greatly enhance local notoriety.

In fact, if tourism were heavily developed, the results might be counterproductive; it may be very popular for a year or two, but over time, Orgrimmar Sanctuary would lose its distinction among the many other sanctuaries across the country.

This natural sanctuary, wherever it falls, is like a golden signboard for the area.

Yet, because of Suming, both the provincial and city authorities, especially Yangchuan City, had long seen this place as a delicacy off limits.

But it's not good to say outright that the Yangchuan City Zoo should be responsible for the nature reserve.

If so, what would the neighboring provinces think?

Besides Yangchuan City, the province has several other powerful cities. Not to mention Jiangjin City, the provincial capital, which ranks nationally. If Yangchuan City were directly given responsibility, what would other cities think?

So, after much circumvention, the goal was to find a justifiable reason to let the Yangchuan City Zoo, to let Suming's company, take specific charge of managing this sanctuary.

In terms of protecting animals and the environment, Suming's zoo has performed noticeably well, successfully reintroducing nearly a thousand animals to the wild in less than a year, a feat unmatched nationally or even globally;

In terms of development and operational capacity, the zoo turned losses into profits within half a year, pairing up with Tao Garden live broadcasts and movie shootings, becoming tremendously popular, effectively turning into an active signboard for Yangchuan City;

The zoo's backyard even developed three Tao Garden areas, sufficiently proving that Suming's zoo is capable and experienced in building sanctuaries where humans and nature coexist harmoniously, and not falling into the mundane.

Speaking of scientific research, the agricultural science experts from the provincial academy had collaborated with Suming more than once. It's fair to say that if someone other than Suming was put in charge of this sanctuary, those senior experts would not be at ease.

Moreover, it's common knowledge that after filming "Terror Animal City," Suming had a significant amount of 'spare cash' at his disposal.

The construction and management of the National Forest Park, which isn't primarily aimed at tourism, wouldn't need investments as substantial as those for Disney or Animal City, yet the most basic facilities are still necessary, such as road construction and forest rangers… All these require funding.

In short, this is a project that earns reputation but not profits in the short term…

Suming had already figured it out, this wasn't about building a park or zoo; there weren't many places that needed spending. An initial investment, at most twenty million, would be enough to form the embryo of a forest park.

He was still young and not in a hurry to make money immediately. Holding the sanctuary in his hands, he was confident that in ten, or even five years, he could turn it into a world-renowned forest park.

With the resources of the Qinling and the capabilities of Animal Friends, surpassing Yellowstone National Park was not an idle boast.

By then, the benefits that this forest park could bring him would be immeasurable in terms of money.

This forest park was one of his assets to compete with the so-called 'The Garden of God.'

He was still young, and even after ten years, he would be under 35.

With this thought in mind, Suming stood up and slowly spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, I've come all the way from the zoo, and the achievements I have made today are all built upon the foundation of protecting animals and the environment. I must undertake this task. After I return, I will set up a forest park management company to handle the investment and construction."

The provincial leader chairing the meeting nodded, "If you need anything, Mr. Su, just mention it, and the relevant departments of Yangchuan City will cooperate fully."

...

Su Desheng was overwhelmed with work, now juggling three major projects.

The first was the construction of the three major Taoyuan areas in the back mountain; besides Savage Taoyuan, the construction of the other two Taoyuans was already 60 to 70 percent complete, and they could soon be opened to the public, followed by additional finishing work;

The second was the senior living community in Sun Town, with a series of approvals just received, and the construction barely begun. Su Desheng's Taoyuan Construction Company was focusing its main efforts here;

And now, there was the additional task of constructing the forest park.

As Suming had planned, the forest park construction wasn't a big project; the main task currently was road building—a road leading from the back of the zoo toward the Orgrimmar.

Once the road was built, humans could provide food and medical assistance to the animals in Orgrimmar.

Among the various requests Suming had made to the authorities, one of the most crucial was that only his company could have the legal access to the sanctuary.

In other words, entering the sanctuary via this road was the only legal way. This could effectively control the flow of visitors in the future and maximize the protection of the animals from disturbance.

As for the forest rangers, Suming was planning to assign some Lure People to the task.

After six months of integration, some of the two hundred Lure People in the Lure Community had already adapted very well to Huaxia society. Apart from looking like foreigners and speaking halting Chinese, they were practically indistinguishable from Huaxia people—eating rice, using chopsticks, making many Huaxia friends, and even two young men had gotten Huaxia girlfriends.

There was no helping it, the living conditions in Huaxia were heaven compared to the war-torn Iraq, where life could be taken away at any moment by war, famine, or tribal conflicts. For the Lure People, life in Yangchuan City was paradise.

The Lure People in faraway Russia had the same sentiment.

Suming had once again fulfilled the prophecy in the scriptures: the messenger of God, leading Lure People to God's paradise for a blissful existence...

With a population over a hundred, people come in all sorts, and while some Lure People adapted quickly, others did not.

Previously, in the mountains of Iraq, many had lived their entire lives without needing to deal much with the outside world, living their simple lives.

Being away from the hustle and bustle meant being away from trouble.

Coming to this colorful world, they inevitably encountered a series of issues like social relationships. A small number of Lure People who were either introverted or better said, reclusive, felt a bit at a loss.

It just so happened the sanctuary needed a group of trustworthy, hardworking rangers with strong wilderness survival skills who were willing to embrace solitude—and they must also know how to use guns, which the government had specially approved.

The group of Lure People who didn't adapt well to city life would be perfect as forest rangers.