I call this foul establishment, “The Zoo of Death”. It is a wholly apt title because the caged animals under the “care” (laugh) of the zoo keepers are being killed by the zoo keepers. That is the allegation and the evidence points to it. Someone is failing in his duty. In fact, it is not someone it is a lot of people.
The photographer (Frank Wouters) says this about the photo heading this article:
A sad view if you ask me. I’m afraid in Indonesian zoo’s one can still see big apes in really bad conditions. This is the zoo in Bandung. This adult orang utan was in a very small cage , harassed by lots of people – children and adults. They are so cute when they are little , but little apes grow. How did they get here on Java? Illegal – probably.
I found myself giving them water with a bottle. Strange how one females eyes kept on following me. We made instant contact. Even more strange is that none of the local people seem to be able to establish that contact. Can’t they see these are intelligent creatures….
Here are the examples:
Michael – an 18 month-old African lion found hanged (yes, hanged!) in his cage from steel cables in the roof. A zoo spokesman brazenly claimed that it was an accident. He says the lion was playing around (in the roof space!) and “somehow got his head stuck”.
The forestry minister believes the lion was killed and wants and investigation but alas…will it happen? I doubt it. The lion’s body was removed before the police arrived. Surprised? Not me.
What a bizarre and cruel way to kill a lion. I guess he must have been drugged up first and it must have been more than one person. There is one blessing: Michael has escaped this damned death camp of a zoo. He is in a better place.
Sumatran tiger – ate meat poisoned with formaldehyde. It killed him.
Giraffe – this one is negligence – the giraffe routinely ate plastic bags discarded in the cage by visitors. There was a plastic ball in his stomach weighing 18kg and it killed him/her.
Overall, through neglect or malicious animal cruelty it is estimated that 25 animals die prematurely every month. Shocking, and sorry to use strong words, disgusting.
The zoo needs to be closed as soon as possible. Will it happen? I doubt it. Where do the animals go? There are 3,500 of them. Will another zoo be any better? At the moment no other zoo can take them on.
There are many zoos like this in the world. There are zoos in places like Syria with a war raging around them. What do you think happens to the animals under those circumstances? Neglect that’s what. Sometimes zoo animals are killed as collateral damage in war zones.
Note: Source: www.theguardian.com. My thanks to Marc for finding the story.
Such a hard article for me to read. I hate all circuses and wish they were banned. I don’t know how they get away with enslaving and immobilizing animals without being charged with abuse.
I HATE zoos.
I would END all zoos immediately. At least the ones designed purely for human consumption. Humans DONT have the right to stare at animals in cages.
These animals should be removed from Indonesia. Clearly the average person over there thinks of animals as sub human – and free to do whatever bad things you want to.
This is awful and Michael you are right. Dying is a blessing in a place like this.
That lion was just a child – I know who should have been hanging from those wires. But can you imagine how scared he must have been when they killed him – especially if he was paralysed. If I saw this happening I would go to jail.
These animals need to be removed from the country monsters they are living in. I know- I generalize but one has to. There may be decent people there but clearly the average person cares nothing for animal welfare because it takes alot of people to pull off a ‘zoo of death’ like this.
I hate PETA but in this case I begin to think the best thing for these animals would be a swat team armed with darts that would kill them more humanely than rotting to death for years in hell. Better off dead. How awful. Humans ave again created something that makes death look acceptable.
This is shocking! Those poor animals, I hate zoos but if people feel they MUST confine animals to be gawped at then they should care for them properly.
I can’t understand why anyone would work with animals and yet abuse or neglect them, there are some very sick in the head cruel people in this world.