Goat & Deer wed at Yunnan zoo
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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.
