I have a wildlife zoo

In addition to the elephants, there are also exhibits for giraffes, hippos, and rhinos!

The giraffe exhibit also needs to be quite large, and with the addition of the back house, it comes to about 10,000 square meters, which should cost about 200 to 400 thousand green leaf coins. The exhibit areas for hippos and rhinos can be 3,000 square meters each, costing around 60 to 100 thousand for one.

As for the pangolins and Sichuan takins in the Crouching Dragon in Sea of Bamboo, the exhibit for the pangolins can be a bit smaller. However, Fang Ye wants to build it beautifully since pangolins are very representative yet often overlooked animals. Anyway, let's budget 50 to 80 thousand for these two as well.

For the Sea of Cherry Blossoms, cherry trees are different from bamboo groves. Maybe it's because bamboo grows well, it's the cheapest in the system construction interface, the same price as grass, one green leaf coin per square meter. It's basically a giveaway, and it's easy to plant a large area.

If you want to plant a beautiful Sea of Cherry Blossoms spanning thousands of square meters, it will also cost tens of thousands of green leaf coins.

The exhibit areas for the Japanese macaque and the golden snub-nosed monkey, let's budget 50 to 80 thousand for each!

Then there's the development of Waterfowl Lake, accompanied with a plaza, visitor walkways, hotels, construction of employee dormitories...

I feel like we need at least 1.5 million green leaf coins as a base, and 2.5 million wouldn't be too much!

But now we have only 830 thousand green leaf coins, which is pitifully little!

Fang Ye got a headache, what should he do?

There are still ways to quickly obtain green leaf coins, mainly by introducing new species into the reptiles and amphibians exhibit and the avian exhibit.

For the first wave of introductions in the reptiles and amphibians exhibit we brought in snakes, avoiding many venomous ones because I was worried the staff were not skilled enough, and caring for a bunch of dangerous creatures on a daily basis is risky. Just one mistake during feeding and a bite could be deadly, which would be troublesome.

Now, the staff have gone through professional training and have gained some experience. It should be okay to introduce some more venomous snakes.

Such as the Mangshan pit viper, king cobra, black mamba...

The internal space of the reptiles and amphibians exhibit is quite large, about 4,000 square meters!

Currently, only a small portion of the area has been utilized. Even if we remove the miscellaneous spaces like corridors, toilets, decorations, and staff backstage, there's still about 2,500 square meters available.

Some animals, like the Chinese giant salamander, are given larger spaces of about 30 square meters. If we introduce the king cobra, it will also need a relatively large area of at least thirty to fifty square meters. However, for the poison dart frog and the like, which are the size of a fingertip, a display box of 20×20cm might be enough.

All in all, if we allot 10 square meters per species, we can house two to three hundred different animals.

This should potentially generate around 500 thousand green leaf coins!

However, it's not possible to introduce and fill them up all at once. Understanding and getting familiar with the habits of a species, designing the feeding plan for them, and arranging their exhibit boxes is a troublesome task, and if we're caring for so many animals, we also need to expand the staff team a bit.

Fang Ye pondered, why not spend money to hire a construction team to do some building?

The zoo's revenue is still pretty good!

On weekdays, we have hundreds to thousands of visitors each day, and on holidays, several thousand come to play. The highest record was during the National Day when we welcomed 7,000 visitors in one day. There were not only locals but also visitors from out of town, and hundreds of people were lined up outside before the gates even opened in the morning.

The money from ticket sales is tens of thousands a month, but that's actually a small portion. A ticket costs just 30, and many people buy annual passes as well.

Even though Linhai Zoo's standard would justify a ticket price of 100 without any problem, Fang Ye doesn't want that. Setting the price too high would mean fewer visitors get the chance for science education, which is much more important than making money.

The annual pass was such a bargain at 200 yuan, it paid for itself after just 7 visits. Some people even came every day during the National Day holiday and earned their money back in no time.

Of course, the discounted ticket prices were the result of negotiations with the city government. Fang Ye was willing to lower the prices, and the city gave him favorable policies in return. The zoo paid much less in taxes and even received additional subsidies, amounting to 100 thousand a month.

The city considered this a drop in the bucket compared to the funds allocated for the zoo's construction, but they couldn't offer anymore. In fact, the zoo's construction didn't cost any money at all.

With the low ticket prices effectively being subsidized by the city, Fang Ye was happy, the visitors were happy, and of course, the city was happy too! The city made good use of their support for Linhai Zoo as a publicity campaign, earning high praise from citizens.

Beyond the entrance fee, visitors often buy souvenirs, and children, who love animals, would plead with their parents to buy a plushie—they'd usually get one.

If a child asks for this and that, hoping to get several items, they often bargain cleverly by saying they'll give up their other toys just for this one. And since parents are generally willing to spend on their children's toys, they often agree to the request.

Most importantly, if the visitors have fun and learn something at the zoo, parents develop a good impression and are willing to spend money.

Some of the souvenirs are purchased from manufacturers, but Fang Ye gets others like plushies and badges from the system at zero cost, which means a much larger profit margin. Souvenir sales could make about 200 thousand a month.

After enjoying the zoo, visitors need to eat, right? The Lion Restaurant and Animal Restaurant cater to different markets—one is high-end, the other is more affordable.

Linhai Zoo has become the most popular dating spot for programmers. A goddess might not enjoy a movie as much, but visiting adorable animals is quite appealing.

Programmers from the tech park, who earn a decent wage, are willing to splurge and take their goddesses to dine at the Lion Restaurant to enhance their relationship.

While the Animal Restaurant is cheaper, it attracts even more patrons; after touring the zoo, everyone likes to rest there, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and grab a meal. Combined, these two restaurants bring in a profit of about 150 thousand a month.

Profit from the various ice cream and cold drink kiosks in the service area is surprisingly high, adding up to about 30 thousand in monthly income.

Income from donations is no small number either, and the tiger exhibit in particular has a bewitching donation box that incessantly echoes in one's mind: "Donate, donate, you must donate." When visitors behold the gorgeous tigers and read the sincere words on the donation box, they feel compelled to contribute to protect the tigers and make Linhai Zoo even better.

How could they resist making a donation?

They impulsively want to donate!

An elderly man, often dressed in a simple singlet and modestly claiming to be a landlord, would donate 40 thousand in various small amounts every time he visited the zoo. He would usually donate a couple of thousand each visit, and on one occasion, when particularly inspired, he tossed 100 thousand into the donation box.

This wasn't just a donation; it was a windfall! Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

It was like tipping a silver or gold league after enjoying a good book.

The lifestyle of the wealthy is unassuming and yet dull.

The old man encouraged the zoo to focus on development and to promote animal protection knowledge.

His philanthropic vision was as lofty as owning several buildings!

Just from donations during visits, the monthly income was around 100 thousand, and considering all donations came from visitors rather than online, this was quite remarkable. At other zoos, such a high proportion of income from donations would be abnormal, as ticket sales are usually the main revenue source.

Typically, on-site donation income might only account for about 3% of a zoo's revenue, with other donations, such as corporate ones, being a way to gain a good reputation and legally avoid tax. They might also represent about 3% of income.

For instance, the boss who promoted a wolf-culture previously made a 200 thousand donation on behalf of his company; the zoo issued a donation certificate for this, although the landlord didn't care for such a document.

Online donations usually amount to perhaps 5%, but Linhai Zoo didn't have an online donation channel...

If live streaming counts as a channel, then the income wasn't very high, as Fang Ye only streamed once or twice a week, earning about 10 thousand a month. This was akin to online friends donating in support of their favorite zoo.