FW: (ID) Yogyakarta Zoo

[Guest guest]

Nanditha krishna [drnandithakrishna]

21 October, 2008 4:19 PM

Kim Bartlett; Merritt Clifton; Dr John Wedderburn; Dr.Chinny

Krishna; Chinny Krishna

Yogyakarta Zoo

 

 

Dear Kim, Merritt and John

 

I am writing to you about the Yogyakarta Zoo which has been

bothering me since I visited the place. You can use it in Animal People or

on aapn, but I hope somebody can do something to help the zoo animals of

Indonesia.

 

Warm regards

 

Nanditha Krishna

 

____________________________

 

 

THE YOGYAKARTA ZOO

 

 

Zoos are always miserable places, but some are worse than

others. The Yogyakarta Zoo - Gembira Loka - in Indonesia was one of the

latter.

 

 

I went to the zoo to see the Komodo Dragon, since I do not

know when, if ever, I will visit either the Komodo or Rinca Islands to see

the animal in the wild. We first saw an African Lioness and a Bengal

Tigress. Both were obviously underfed - they were very thin and looked at us

expectantly, perhaps in the hope of being thrown something to eat. They were

restricted to small cages, with very little space for movement. The Sumatran

tiger was slightly better off and plumper, with a larger area. But the

animal was single and very very lonely.

 

 

The primates - Orang Outang, Macaque and Chimp - were in tiny

cages and terribly miserable, sitting with their heads in their hands, like

unhappy human beings, looking expectantly for food. It was midday, and no

animal had been fed. The Orang Outang sat with his head buried in both hands

and did not even look up. My heart broke to see the sight.

 

 

The elephant's foot was chained and sore. The hippopotamus

was swimming in filthy water in a tiny pond. I can go on and on. Not a

single animal was in congenial surroundings.

 

 

All the water ponds in the zoo were filthy and probably give

the animals several diseases. They were painting the fences around the

animals - the smell was awful and, if it bothered us for the short while we

were there, imagine the plight of the animals smelling it over several days.

I did not see any vet around any animal - I doubt if they have a full time

vet.

 

 

What made it worse was that our guide told us that this was

one of the better zoos! I would hate to see the rest. Apparently, Indonesian

zoos have to survive on their ticket income. As the Yogyakarta zoo is

outside the city, it receives few visitors and therefore insufficient money

to feed and care for the animals. The rural zoos earn even less.

 

 

I hope Indonesian animals welfare groups can take up the

cause of the zoos. If they cannot be closed down, at least the conditions

can be improved.

 

Note: you can also read about this zoo on the AAPN wesbite:

http://www.aapn.org/zoopage3.html

John.