One man and his menagerie

Support network

Starting from January, Luo Wei, 22, the old man's granddaughter, began to post short videos of him looking after these animals online, hoping to raise awareness of the zoo and give people a better understanding about her grandfather's work.

Some kindhearted people arranged the delivery of animal feed to the zoo via express courier after watching these touching videos. Luo Yingjiu is very grateful to those who're concerned about the zoo and has expressed his gratitude in the short videos.

The account "Grandpa Luo's Zoo "has attracted over 375,000 fans on short-video platform Bilibili, and the most popular upload has about 2 million views. Users online post on-screen comments sending blessings to Luo Yingjiu.

His son and daughter have also devoted themselves to the zoo, especially as it's the place where they lived and grew up. They have helped their father in caring for the animals since their childhood.

His daughter used to help him at the zoo until she died in 2008 of a congenital heart illness at the age of 33.He still remembers her last words: "I can't accompany you anymore. Please don't let the zoo close down."

Luo Wei says, "All my family members love animals. My grandpa always tells me to be upstanding and to contribute to society, and he's been practicing what he preaches over the years."

She will graduate from university this summer. She used to sit at the gate and sell tickets to the zoo when she was a kid.

"His original intention remains unchanged and he labors at the zoo all year round. My family and I hope he can enjoy a happy life in his old age, but we can't persuade him (to give up the zoo), so we can only support him."