(CNN) — An aquarium employee shakes a mackerel near a penguin, but there is no response. As she brings the fish closer to her beak, the penguin arrogantly turns her back. Kawauso sniffs fish and runs away.
Previously, the aquarium offered penguin and otter "hydrangeas," or Japanese horse mackerel that animals could eat immediately.
However, the aquarium, home to 32,000 animals, including sharks and lizards, was unaffected by the economic predicament that plagues many global economies. According to the aquarium, the price of horse mackerel has risen by 20% to 30% from last year.
Japanese Hakoneen employees tried to seduce penguins with mackerel, but with little success.
TV Asahi
In May, the aquarium switched to a cheaper alternative, "saba" or mackerel, to reduce costs.
It's not well accepted and aquarium workers have to be creative to encourage animals to eat-for example, otters and penguins are mixed. Then it looks like they are more willing to eat mackerel with their favorite hydrangea.
"Ideally, they want to eat full hydrangea, but they patiently eat mackerel," said Hiroki Shimamoto, the manager of the aquarium, on CNN-affiliated TV Asahi. Told to.
The aquarium is also reducing costs by reducing the number of circulation pumps from two to one and reducing electricity bills by 40% to 50%.
"We can raise the entrance fee to the aquarium to solve this problem, but we would like to do our best to ensure that guests can visit the facility comfortably. There are no plans to raise the admission fee. "
According to the aquarium, penguins and otters have their favorite species of fish, and the aquarium is doing its best to meet their needs.
"All the animals in the aquarium are a family and we do our best to stay healthy." "We never feed animals what we don't want to eat. We want as many people as possible to visit and enjoy Hakone."
