Meerkats, Giant Tortoises Added To Ocean Park

Ocean Park said it will open a new animal exhibition centre housing 20 meerkats and two giant tortoises on Wednesday, July 1, to help raise people's awareness about animal conservation.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the park's general curator Howard Chuk said that the meerkats and giant tortoises are the park's newly-introduced conservation ambassadors.

Chuk said that the park believes that these animals "can bring in the message of conservation education to our guests".

He went on to say: "I emphasise a lot that no matter the meerkats, tortoise, or even the human being, we are all the stakeholders living in this planet, we should learn how to respect, learn how to share the resources and use it wisely."

Chuk made the comments at the grand opening of the park's 800 square-metre meerkat and tortoise centre, which was attended by incoming chairman Lau Ming-wai.

Lau, who will take up the post on Wednesday, said he foresees an extremely challenging year ahead for the park.

"The coming 12 months and beyond will be extremely challenging for the park, whether it’s the park’s financial conditions or the local economy, or Covid-19 or the global tourism market," he said.

"Ocean Park will be facing a multitude of challenges, and the only way we can overcome these challenges and create a sustainable future for the park is if our staff, our management, our board are united and work together to provide the best experience for our guests," he said.

Lau said he will work with the government in the next six months to come up with plans to reposition the cash-strapped park.