Bua Noi has lived at Pata Zoo on the top floor of a department store in western Bangkok since 1990. The zoo has been called one of the saddest places in the world.
SIOBHAN ROBBINS: Days after helping rescue “the world’s loneliest elephant” from Pakistan, singer Cher is attempting to re-home a gorilla living above a Thai shopping centre… Bua Noi has lived at Pata Zoo on the top floor of a department store in western Bangkok since 1990… Representatives at Free The Wild, a charity the singer co-founded, have confirmed they have been in touch with the Thai government with the aim of getting Bua Noi relocated, along with a bonobo and an orangutan and her baby, which are also housed at the zoo.
“None of these animals appear to be being properly cared for and the reports we have received refer to the zoo as decrepit and overrun with rats and cockroaches,” said charity co-founder Mark Cowne. “No matter how much ‘care and attention’ is lavished on these animals by their owners and keepers, just by keeping them in such confines and conditions is purgatory for them in terms of their well-being and mental health.
“These primates are the closest living relatives to mankind and, when we wish to severely punish another of our own species, we put them into solitary confinement. The worst possible punishment for a human. And, even then, it is for a limited period. “But these wild, wonderful, charismatic animals are in solitary confinement for life. In a zoo. On top of a shopping mall. That is far removed from the lowlands of the Congo”…
Cher isn’t the first celebrity to call for Bua Noi’s release. In May, The Crown star Gillian Anderson wrote a letter on behalf of animal rights group PETA, which previously protested outside the mall. “As you surely know, the Pata Zoo has been called one of the saddest places in the world,” Anderson wrote. “By making the decision to close the zoo and send the animals to reputable sanctuaries with the help of my friends at PETA, you can end the growing controversy and show the world that animals deserve mercy”…
Bangkok’s Pata Zoo opened in the 1980s and has two floors housing a range of animals, reptiles, birds, and various species of monkey… The director of Pata Zoo, Kanit Sermsirimongkol, rejected criticism about the conditions, saying all the animals were well cared for and they weren’t “torturing” any of them… Thai officials confirmed that while the zoo isn’t breaking any rules by keeping a gorilla, its owners have previously been told to improve conditions including fire safety and animal welfare, which was described as “moderate”. SOURCE…
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