Staff from a tutoring institute walk an Alpaca at a junior high school in Jinan, Shandong Province, for advertising purposes. Photo: CFP

Xu Guanguo had no idea that his alpaca would bring him such wealth.

Xu, 26, a former online shop owner, closed his shop on taobao.com and shifted his focus to creating a private zoo after he started raising an alpaca last year.

Six months after he acquired the South American animal he had made over 200,000 yuan ($32,020) by renting it out. The profits amounted to twice his previous income and his business story has become a legend in his neighborhood in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

"I imported two brown alpacas from the Netherlands late last year, costing me around 80,000 yuan, and imported another three white alpacas this year. Now, I can earn over 10,000 yuan a day if I rent all of them out. They have made me rich," Xu told Shenzhen Metropolis Daily.

Renting out animals, particularly those that have become popular online via Internet memes, has become a lucrative money-making scheme in China.

The popularity of these animals, whose names when pronounced with different intonation form obscene puns, originated from the derivatives of popular online phrases. They have become honored guests at certain commercial events and have on some occasions resulted in forging important connections.

For instance, the caonima, which literately means "grass-mud-horse" is often depicted as an alpaca, and is also a widely used homophone for a curse about someone's mother. Alpacas have thus become favorite meme animals that can be rented at a high price. It is also among the so-called top 10 "mythical creatures" of the Chinese Internet, mentioned in a well-circulated article online in early 2009.

The apple in the eye

The alpaca has become a favorite animal in the eyes of businessmen, especially for some commercial activities, such as kick-off ceremonies for shopping malls.

  Xu is often busy arranging schedules for the grass-mud-horses. "People like mud-grass-horses; especially because they think they look cute. More importantly, they represent an Internet meme that arouses great interest," Xu said.

In the past three weekends, all five of the grass-mud-horses have been rented out to real estate companies and for opening ceremonies of the shopping malls. Due to their popularity, people have to make reservations at least half a month in advance.

Learned zoology at local vocational college, Su Guanguo (pseudonym), from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, also opened a private zoo since last year.

In a party held by a developer to commemorate the opening of a residential district in Hangzhou, the presence of an alpaca caused a stir last month. "Hundreds of people soon surrounded the alpaca and took photos with the animal. Alpacas always attract people's attention because they are part of an Internet chat forum cult phenomenon in China," Su added.

"The price varies, depending on the economic development level of the local area. But the price for alpacas is the highest among all the animals for rent," Su told the Global Times, explaining that in cities it is more difficult to keep an alpaca and expenses are higher.

In Jiangsu, the usual price for renting an alpaca for one day is around 4,000 yuan and the traffic expense not included, while in some bigger cities the price is much higher. In Beijing, it would cost over 8,000 yuan to rent an alpaca each day.

  Considering the high price, "most of the clients are real estate developers or people involved with shopping malls," Su noted.

  Opening a private zoo company is not easy. The owner has to register with local epidemic prevention departments and animal quarantine inspection departments to obtain licenses, and local authorities conduct regular inspections over the zoo and the animals, Su noted.

  "We won't rent out these animals during the hottest season, to ensure their health," Su said.

Raising animals takes time and patience. Su's private zoo has employed several breeders to take care of these animals around the clock. They have to feed the alpacas on time to make sure they take in at least 3 kilograms of grasses and two carrots each day.

Animal safety concerns

  There are hundreds of search results for "animal renting" on baidu.com, China's most popular search engine. Raising and renting out animals has become a lucrative business, with a commensurate number of practitioners.

  Some other animals have also become popular and hotly welcomed. "Raccoons, peacocks, ponies and other animals are also welcomed by the market," Xu said.

The popularity of renting these "mythical animals" has aroused controversy among some animal-protection campaigners, who have expressed concerns it might cause damage to the safety of the animals.

"Raising animals for public viewing is discouraged in Western countries, as the animals might be disturbed or frightened by the crowds. We should protect animal welfare," said Sun Quanhui, an animal rights advocate from the World Society for the Protection of Animals.