A ram named
Changmao and a doe named Chunzi tie the knot in a wedding ceremony
at Yunnan Wild Animal Park on Tuesday, Valentine's Day. Wang Yuheng
/ for China Daily
KUNMING - Like many couples, they had their wedding on an
auspicious day: Valentine's Day.
But this was no ordinary couple. Tuesday's wedding at Yunnan
Wild Animal Park between Changmao (Long Hair) the ram and a doe
named Chunzi showed that love knows no boundaries - even those set
by nature.
The wedding was to be held at 10:30 am, but the zoo's staff had
to postpone the wedding to 2 pm because Chunzi repeatedly fled from
the wedding site to a fenced area called the "Deer Garden". The
venue was changed to the garden to prevent it from happening
again.
Throngs of amused tourists looked on as Changmao and Chunzi ate
carrots at a gate decorated with Chinese characters meaning "I do"
and featuring cartoon images of a deer and a sheep. A famous
Chinese love song was broadcast.
Zhao Cong, manager of the wedding-planning company that arranged
the wedding, said the company sponsored the wedding to promote
animal protection. He said the wedding cost his company more than
20,000 yuan ($3,200).
"Changmao and Chunzi are stars of the park, and I like them.
Today is Valentine's Day, and nowadays many young people do not
have confidence in love and marriage, but love can happen between
two animals of different species, so what is impossible?" Zhao
said.
More than 200 tourists visited the zoo for Changmao and Chunzi's
wedding.
Ning Ji, a postgraduate student, attended the wedding with his
girlfriend. He said they arrived at the original wedding site at 9
am, and waited until 2 pm.
"Maybe too many people showed up, and the crowd scared Chunzi,"
Ning said.
After the wedding, Changmao and Chunzi will still live in the
Deer's Garden.
Changmao and Chunzi have lived together since December 2009, and
in December 2010 they were first caught having sex.
After staff learned of this, they tried to separate them in
December 2011. Staff tried to mate Changmao with another from his
own species, but the plan backfired and Changmao injured the other
sheep as well as his offspring in an angry outburst.
When they saw how Chunzi gently licked Changmao to calm him, the
zoo staff decided not to separate them anymore and began to plan a
wedding for them.
