No signs of cruelty at Bangkok's PATA zoo

[webfact]

BUA NOI

No signs of cruelty at PATA zoo

By Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Online social networks have joined forces to call for Bangkok's Pata Pinklao Shopping Mall to provide better living conditions for Bua Noi, a 25-year-old female gorilla.

The mall has been defending itself by inviting these Internet surfers to come and see things for themselves, and has also revealed that Dusit Zoo is planning to bring more gorillas over from Belgium.

After observing the comments on websites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as forwarded e-mails, The Nation decided to visit Pata Zoo. This writer saw parents and children being allowed to take pictures with Bua Noi, provided they kept the flash off. The cage was kept clean, with carers hosing it down regularly - contrary to the allegations on the Net.

Bua Noi lives in a 10-by-10-metre air-conditioned cage, with the sunroof sometimes being opened when the weather is nice. During the three-hour-long observation, Bua Noi was mostly seen sitting still, dozing off or sometimes snacking from the food tray.

Every time she saw a carer walk past, the gorilla looked excited as if she had caught sight of a parent, though she banged her chest to mark her territory when a stranger was sighted. Every time the television in the hallway was turned on, the gorilla looked closely with great interest.

Pata Zoo director Khanit Sermsirimongkol said the veterinarians and carers were always at hand, and that the zoo's other gorilla, Bua Na, had been well taken care of. Bua Na died of old age when he turned 50.

These calls for giving Bua Noi a better life are nothing new. The protests began two or three years ago but things went quiet after Pata Zoo proved that no animals were being tortured. Khanit said a former employee, who wanted to get back at Pata after being fired over embezzlement charges, had released the false allegations and doctored photographs.

He said allegations that Bua Noi was tortured so much that she cried were not credible because monkeys and gorillas cannot cry. In addition, he said, people making these allegations had never actually visited the zoo.

Khanit added that Dusit Zoo was planning to bring over more gorillas from Belgium to breed and therefore Pata Zoo would be given a chance to learn more about proper care for the animals.

However, a 37-year-old visitor, who visits the zoo often and wanted to only be identified as Kae, said though the cages were clean, they were rather small. She also said Bua Noi was not as big and cheerful as she used to be, and that other animals were also confined in small cages. She advised they be housed in a greener and bigger area.

Veterinarian Panthep Rattanakorn from Mahidol University said more disease-prevention measures should be adopted for Bua Noi, because gorillas are genetically close to humans and thus susceptible to the same diseases.

He also said that raising a gorilla on its own could affect its behaviour, and something must be done about that soon.

-- The Nation 2010-03-04

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[junglist]

I live near this sad place. I went once never again.

Edited March 4, 2010 by junglist

[farangteachercliche]

I second that! Been once, never EVER again : (

[Meridian007]

I keep hearing horror stories about this place. I get the feeling that the owner of Pata is well connected, and wants to keep this "zoo" as a personal menagerie. I doubt they're making any money from it as I heard that the ticket price is only 60 Baht, and its location makes it a place that most would not visit often, (Dusit zoo is so close, and supposedly better).

Animal husbandry is not the same here in Asia as the west. The regulations are more lax, and enforcement is rare. I feel sorry for Bua Noi, but I refuse to go there and support the company that owns her. The only way I'd go is if I thought we could rescue the animals there, (not just Bua Noi, from what I've heard, she gets the best treatment there), and bring them somewhere more humane.

[jpp2bkk]

I suggest to send Bua Noi in a rehabilitation center in Africa, free all others animals as well and keep Khanit Sermsirimongkol in Bua Noi's cage where he can be feed with bananas from visitors, it will be much more "sanuk".

[ashacat]

10 metres by 10 metres. Wow, I hope he doesn't get lost.

[orchis]

A lone gorilla in a 10 by 10 cage atop a concrete mall on a thoroughfare in Bangkok

seems the definition of cruelty.

[ricklev]

When I read that story this morning I really wondered about the writer and the editor and everybody involved in getting the story into print. What a world!

[Wossnext]

I second that! Been once, never EVER again : (

Yeh same here, I live on Charan and was intrigued to see how there could be a Zoo in a shopping mall so I went up to see. My eyes water and my heart rate still speeds up when I think about those animals up there. So sad.