Indonesia: Zoo of Death
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.