My first visit to TerraNatura was in 2021 and despite not having visited beforehand the decline was notable. I did not do much research before going to the park, but after I looked at the pictures of the park's golden years I really saw what everyone meant about the big decline.
I think the change in management really harmed how the park looks. The fact that they shrunk the elephant paddock size to build god dammed lodges right behind their paddock where loud music can be heard from the other extreme of the paddock is outright insulting in my opinion. They also took space away from the elephants to build what currently is a terribly barren paddock for zebus, dromedaries, and sambar and the capacity of visitors to get closer to the elephant paddock, ruining the whole immersive aspect this area used to have. I have the same opinion when it comes to the ungulate paddock next to the rhinos, this used to be a large grassy field with large herds of gaur, sambar, blackbuck,... but they decided to shrink down the whole thing to a tiny corner next to the pool to install in a climbing children's play area right on top of it (Of course, this course has an extra fee outside of the zoo's ticket...), outright outrageous, this used to be a stunning looking area in my opinion but they just ruined it for the sake of profit.
Despite many problems coming with the park's new management, I do think some exhibits already lacked space at the times of the original managers, putting as an example the lion, capybara, jaguar, dhole,... exhibits. I think the clouded leopard is pretty good as for now but the simple idea that a pair of Sumatran tigers lived there for a while is still wild to me.
It's also really sad to see all of the amazing south American birds the park no longer houses but used to back in the early 2000's, but I guess it was bound to happen, for what I've read there were some risky combinations on that aviary with the original lineup. It's also sad how a lot of the amazing theming that once used to be here has been outright destroyed, mostly talking about the beautifully done Mexican town area in the America zone. The whole America zone feels empty and abandoned, it's very sad.
Seeing all of the ungulate species this place used to breed and no longer do so is also really tragic to me, I think the only breeding populations they currently have are the Indian rhinos and axis. They have loads of barashinga bucks and does, but they are all separated in two different paddocks preventing them to breed, I only saw six blackbucks (three males and three females, one of the males was clearly castrated. The non-castrated males were separated from the females), a remnant of the huge herd they used to have, I'm pretty sure all male nilgais were castrated too, only two male gaurs of a formerly prolific breeding herd,...
I could go on and on about the huuuge flaws this park has, but I think I'll stop here or I will never do so.
