Pata Zoo and Tiger Temple

A Mixed Scene for Captive Animals in Thailand

It’s a mixed bag for captive animals here in Thailand, some of it well below the surface of most tourists’ experience.  But I look deeper than most, and I’ve seen some interesting things.

For one thing, I’ll bet no tourists have any idea that on the top two floors of a department store in a suburb of Bangkok a gorilla, Bua Noi (Little Lotus) has been living for more than 30 years.  And to keep her company—if separate cages are company—there are a handful of orangutans, a chimpanzee, and dozens of albino crab-eating macaque monkeys.  Oh yeah, and leopards, civets, binturongs and an entire floor full of reptiles and amphibians.  It’s all there at the Pata Zoo in the Pata Department Store, but no tourists ever even hear about it and only a few Thais show up and spend the inexpensive 100 baht ($3) admission.

But I heard about it.  I was certain that the Pata department store zoo had been closed down since I last saw it in 1988, the year Bua Noi the gorilla was imported from a German Zoo.  I was there then to look at every otter in captivity as part of my PhD research.  I sought out the Pata Zoo’s albino small-clawed otter and saw the gorilla and many other animals too, many of them albinos.  But surely it no longer existed, that obscure animal collection on the top floor of the store.

But I stumbled upon a recent internet posting that animal rights groups were trying to get Bua Noi out of the zoo onto a place with “real ground”.  The Thai wildlife authorities sided with the Pata Zoo since the gorilla and the other animals were there legally and were well taken care of.  I just had to go see for myself.

When I visited, Bua Noi and the other animals all seemed as healthy and content as any animals in any zoo are.  They had natural air and light, on the roof of the building, their cages were full of toys and shelves and places to hide if they wished.  The food they were receiving was straight out of the grocery store on the bottom floor of the building and included things like apples (imported to Thailand and expensive) and other items packaged for human consumption. 

Best yet, the animals were all interested in us few visitors.  One orangutan reached out to shake my hand, which I did carefully, hoping it wouldn’t pull me into its cage.  Another orangutan handed its towel out to me, and I grabbed one end and we played tug of war for a while.  When the cat keeper came by the leopard cages all the cats rubbed against the railings to be petted by him, and rubbed their faces on the fences like greeting housecats. These animals are not making money for the rich owner who supports them all with his personal wealth.  And, since at least Bua Noi has been here for many years, longer-lived than most gorillas in captivity, to move her from her known environment where she has been isolated from diseases might cause more harm than good, like the Thai wildlife authorities have suggested.

But some of the other animal places that tourists flock to in Thailand are a different story.  Take the tiger zoos, for instance.  There are a number of these places, including the most famous “Tiger Temple” run by monks.  Here baby tigers are bottle fed by adoring and high-paying tourists every day, round the year, a real money-maker.  But where are all the adult tigers from all of these babies?  There are some adult tigers around but not the hundreds you would expect when all these cubs grow up and live their possible 20 year lifespan, eating at least seven pounds of meat per day. These “generic” tigers breed readily; one tiger I knew at Marine World, Baghdad, had eight cubs in one litter.  But these tigers are not endangered subspecies and no respected zoo has room for them.  And, in the wild, those few tigers that remain are rapidly being killed out by poachers; there is no place to release hand-raised generic tigers, even if they could survive in the wild, which is highly unlikely.

But consider that tiger bones, skins, meat, whiskers, etc. are worth a fortune in the neighboring countries to Thailand—this is what is driving the poaching of wild tigers after all. 

What do YOU think happens to these cubs when they grow up?  Of course it is illegal under both international and Thai laws to trade in endangered species dead or alive but what other explanation is there for the fate of many of these grown up cubs?

So which is worse?  Well-adjusted Bua Noi in the Pata Zoo, or dozens of baby tigers bottle fed then gone missing when they grow up? I know where my vote goes.