(Yicai Global) May 11 -- China needs to tighten its zoo business risk control, an expert said after three leopards escaped from a safari park in eastern China's Hangzhou just before a major public holiday.

Zoo operations are very complex and highly professional, and the cost of breeding and taking care of different animal species is also high, Zhao Huanyan, chief expert at Huamei Consultancy, said to Yicai Global after lamenting the brutal animal attacks in recent years.

"One must have a certain degree of professionalism and risk prevention and control capabilities to operate a zoo," Zhao added.

Five people, including General Manager Zhang Dequan, have been arrested after three leopards fled from the Hangzhou Safari Park on April 19, the city’s vice mayor said at a press conference yesterday. One big cat is still missing. The park is closed after it failed to report the incident before May 7, two days after the May Day holiday ended.

The sector has expanded rapidly. China currently has nearly 2,960 zoological firms, and almost 30 percent of them were registered last year, according to data from corporate information platform Qichacha. Half of the companies have more than CNY5 million (USD778,000) in registered capital. In the first four months of this year, the number of new registrations nearly tripled to more than 460 from a year ago.

Even if risky, wild animals attract tourists. "The animal theme is good," said Zhao. "Many cultural and tourism investors have entered the field or implanted animal themes into their comprehensive projects," he added.

The Hangzhou escape is not the first one. Parks in Shanghai, Changzhou, Xiamen, and Guangzhou, have previously reported some of their captive animals such as crocodiles, tigers, hippos, and gibbons missing. Some unexpected encounters have caused deaths.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi