#66 An 81 year-old man and his old-animals zoo 81岁老人和他的动物园

大家好，欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese。今天，我想和大家分享一个81岁老人的故事。他叫罗应玖，大家都叫他罗爷爷。他是一个动物园的园长，采购员，搬运工，清洁工，售票员，兽医，讲解员，也是送葬者。是的，这个动物园只有他一个人，还有很多动物。这些动物和他一样，都很老了。

罗爷爷的动物园在中国湖北省恩施市凤凰山。罗爷爷照顾这些动物已经33年了。1989年，恩施市政府在凤凰山开了一个动物园，罗爷爷和他的家人在这里照顾动物。后来，越来越少人来动物园，动物园应该要关门了，但是罗爷爷和他的家人决定继续照顾动物。有些动物被猎人打伤了，有些动物差点儿被杀吃了，罗爷爷把他们都买了下来，带回动物园。罗爷爷给了每一个动物名字，非常耐心地照顾他们。罗爷爷舍不得给自己花钱买东西，但是他的钱都用来给动物买食物了。每个星期，他都推着自行车去市场，给动物买几十斤的食物。罗爷爷说：“我现在是跟动物打交道，我的一切都要以动物为重。”为了照顾动物，罗爷爷曾经欠了很多钱。

动物园里都有什么动物呢？他们都有什么故事呢？动物园里现在有一只黑熊，叫乖乖；有一只狐狸，叫秋秋；有一只孔雀，叫球球；有一只老猴子，一只小猴子，很多猫和狗，等等。17年前，罗爷爷救了一只黑熊。这只黑熊没有了一个手掌。它本来马上就要被人杀了，但是爷爷把它买了回来，每天给他买肉。黑熊乖乖刚开始很凶，但是后来知道罗爷爷是个好人，就变得特别温柔。乖乖最喜欢的零食是小蛋糕，每一次去市场，爷爷都会给他买两斤小蛋糕。有一只老猴子，以前因为游客拍照，照相机的闪光灯让它的一只眼睛瞎了。罗爷爷也把它带回了动物园，现在，它已经在动物园28年了。它很老很老了，也生了很多病，但是罗爷爷一直没有放弃它。

动物园的后面有一块墓地，有90多个坟，这些都是33年里在动物园去世的动物。几乎每一只动物都活到了很老，罗爷爷和他的家人照顾了它们一辈子。23年前，罗爷爷的女儿因为心脏病去世了，罗爷爷的妻子后来也去世了，但是，她们都希望动物园的动物还是会得到很好的照顾。慢慢地，只剩下罗爷爷一个人在照顾动物了。

很多人知道了罗爷爷的故事以后，都给罗爷爷和动物捐钱，也买门票去动物园看动物，也有很多人给罗爷爷和动物们买肉、买菜。罗爷爷说，只要他活着，就会一直照顾这些动物。罗爷爷最爱这些动物了，这些动物也一定非常爱罗爷爷。

Hello everyone. Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese. Today, I would like to share with you the story of an 81-year-old man. His name is Luo Yingjiu, and everyone calls him Grandpa Luo. He was a zoo director, buyer, porter, cleaner, conductor, veterinarian, docent, and mourner. Yes, he is the only one in this zoo, where there are many animals. These animals, like him, are very old.

Grandpa Luo's zoo is in Fenghuang Mountain, Enshi City, Hubei Province, China. Grandpa Luo has been taking care of these animals for 33 years. In 1989, the Enshi government opened a zoo in Fenghuang Mountain, and Grandpa Luo and his family took care of the animals there. Later, fewer and fewer people came to the zoo, and the zoo was supposed to be closed. However, Grandpa Luo and his family decided to continue to take care of the animals. Some animals were injured by hunters, and some were almost killed and eaten. Grandpa Luo bought them all and brought them back to the zoo. Grandpa Luo gave every animal a name and took care of them very patiently. Grandpa Luo was reluctant to spend money on himself, but all his money was used to buy food for animals. Every week, he pushes his bicycle to the market and buys dozens of pounds of food for the animals. Grandpa Luo said, "I'm working with animals now, and everything I do must be about animals." In order to take care of animals, Grandpa Luo used to owe a lot of money.

What animals are there in the zoo? What are their stories? There is a black bear in the zoo, called Guāiguai; there is a fox, called Qiūqiū; there is a peacock, called Qiúqiú; there is an old monkey, a little monkey, many cats and dogs, and so on. 17 years ago, Grandpa Luo rescued a black bear. The black bear lost one of his palms. It was about to be killed soon, but grandpa bought it back and bought him meat every day. The black bear Guāiguai was very fierce at first, but later he learned that Grandpa Luo was a good guy, and then he became very gentle. His favorite snack is small cupcakes. Every time Granpa Luo goes to the market, he will buy him 1 kilogram of small cupcakes. There is an old monkey who was blinded in one eye by the flash of the camera because of tourists taking pictures. Grandpa Luo also brought him back to the zoo, and now, he has been in the zoo for 28 years. He is really old, and has many diseases, but Grandpa Luo has never given up on him.

There is a cemetery behind the zoo with more than 90 graves of animals who died in the zoo in 33 years. Almost every animal lived to be very old, and Grandpa Luo and his family took care of them all their lives. 23 years ago, Grandpa Luo's daughter died of a heart attack, and Grandpa Luo's wife died later, but they all hoped that the animals in the zoo would still be well taken care of. Gradually, only Grandpa Luo was left to take care of the animals.

After learning about Grandpa Luo's story, many people donated money to Grandpa Luo and the animals. They also bought tickets to see the animals at the zoo. Many people also bought meat and vegetables for Grandpa Luo and the animals. Grandpa Luo said that as long as he is alive, he will always take care of these animals. Grandpa Luo loves these animals, and these animals must love Grandpa Luo very much as well.