Animal suffering in Thailand’s Pata Zoo

Distressing images and video have emerged of the animals housed in Pata Zoo in Thailand, a shopping centre zoo located in the country’s capital city of Bangkok. The zoo has been the subject of negative reports before, and in 2015 there were efforts made to move the zoo’s solitary gorilla Bua Noi to a more suitable home. Bua Noi is still in Pata Zoo and despite the ongoing concern for her and numerous other animals held there, conditions are not improving.

Commenting on the animal welfare concerns in these latest images from Pata Zoo, Wild Welfare’s projects director, Georgina Groves, said:

“It is incredibly sad to see such appalling conditions for these animals in Thailand, no animal should be kept like this. We’ve got a positive working relationship with the Zoological Park Organization (ZPO) in Thailand, supporting animal welfare improvements within their member facilities.

“A zoo membership organisation like ZPO enables welfare standards to be monitored, but zoos that aren’t part of this membership – like Pata Zoo – have no standards, resulting in these appalling conditions.

“The spotlight will be on Thailand later this year as global zoo experts head to the country to attend annual zoo conferences, so we hope this prompts the relevant authorities to consider taking immediate action for these animals.”

Wild Welfare will continue to do all it can to raise the concerns around the zoo with its partners in Thailand.

~ENDS~

Notes to Editors

For more information or interview requests please contact Wild Welfare on communications@wildwelfare.org

Wild Welfare is a global organisation committed to improving animal welfare for captive wild animals. By uniting the world’s leading zoos, zoo associations and animal welfare organisations, we build trusting partnerships that help provide long-term solutions to critical wild animal welfare issues.

Our vision is to end the suffering of captive wild animals around the world and ensure full and sustainable protection is given to all animals in human care. Find out more at www.wildwelfare.org. Registered charity in England (no.1165941).

Image © B20180 [CC BY-SA 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons, a leopard cat in Pata Zoo