You may be interested in this museum: The Icelandic Phallological Museum
Snowleopard's 2024 Road Trip: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
I have to say, it does look interesting.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
After Bangkok Snake Farm, Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo and Bangkok Butterfly Garden, it was time to drive 15 minutes southwest to my 4th zoo of the day. All of these places are very close together, but paying a taxi driver to chauffeur me around was by far the best option because it was cheaper than renting a vehicle, the Bangkok roads are death traps, and instead of attempting to navigate directions on my iPhone while avoiding dying I simply sat in the backseat and hung on to the seatbelt strap if we careened around a corner at a ridiculous speed.
Zoo/Aquarium #4: Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
When I have visited decrepit, rundown zoos in the past, in almost every instance I’ve not known what I was getting into. Numerous crappy, non-accredited zoos in U.S. states such as Arkansas, Texas, Michigan and especially Wisconsin, were ones that perhaps not a single other ZooChatter had ever been to. I have spent many summers touring top-notch zoological facilities, but to visit a complete unknown is a thrill and I never tire of popping into homegrown zoos for an hour or two in order to photograph and document a facility that no one I know has ever seen before. It’s almost impossible to accurately judge a zoo via its website, as some naff little menageries have online material that looks modern and fresh.
Even when I first went to Western Europe in 2019, I ended up at probably close to 15 zoos that didn’t even have galleries on ZooChat. If any zoo nerds had ever been before, they certainly hadn’t uploaded photos onto this site. Thankfully, even the worst zoos in Western Europe are far superior to the worst zoos in North America. The same rational could be applied to my Southeast Asia trip, as once again I visited a half-dozen places that are almost totally unrepresented on ZooChat.
I do my best to avoid strolling through abysmal zoos. Here are two examples. I once stood a block away from GuZoo Animal Farm (Alberta, Canada), an awful dump that operated from 1987 to 2015. I refused to go in as I’d read all the nasty reports from various organizations and several national newspapers had run articles slamming the zoo. I was tempted, and very curious, but it looked horrible from the outside and I couldn't justify handing my money over to a zoo I knew would be awful. When I was outside the centrally located Rome Zoo in late 2003, directly next to the gates, my travelling companion didn't really want to tour what was then a notably bad zoo and so I never went in. I love racking up my zoo count, but I'm not a mercenary.
However, Pata Zoo is a facility I knew would likely be awful and it goes against my trend of avoiding such places. The terrible ones I saw in Arkansas and Wisconsin were establishments I didn’t know would be atrocious as I was the first zoo nerd to document them. This time around, I was asked, by several individuals, to drop by Pata Zoo for an hour to get some updated photos of the zoo and those photos and this review will hopefully be one more nail in the coffin to get this joint closed down for good. The minimal entrance fee meant that the zoo didn’t get much out of me other than my time, and I uploaded approximately 60 photos into the gallery.
It's crazy to even see where Pata Zoo is located, as it’s inside a shopping mall in bustling, chaotic Bangkok. It opened in 1983 and takes up the 6th and 7th floors of the mall. For this 4th zoo of the day, I also paid for the taxi driver to come in with me as he was curious and I felt bad that he was often just sitting in his car while I was walking around outside. He told me that Covid has decimated many of the mall's stores and upon entering the ground floor (which was partially flooded and drenched everywhere!), I took the elevator and its glass doors revealed many entire floors of the building that were completely shut and closed off to the public. It's almost like a semi-abandoned apartment complex as the mall is a tall tower. On the 7th floor is the entrance to the zoo and it’s not a bad first impression. A glass-fronted flamingo habitat is there, complete with some initial hornbill aviaries that are tight on space.
The elevator to the 6th and 7th floors:
The open-topped, introductory flamingo exhibit:
A few aviaries are near the entrance, including one for a White-crowned Hornbill.
It's quite the experience wandering around a small zoo on the very top of a shopping mall tower, and there's a cafe and an eating area. The macaws in my photo are fake, with cool misted air blowing to dissipate the intense Bangkok heat.
Here's the view from the outdoor, 7th floor zone of this 'rooftop zoo'.
Primates is where Pata Zoo struggles, with all the primate exhibits being rather horrendous. An enormous fake Gorilla arm signals to visitors that they are close to the enclosure for Bua Noi, the solitary Lowland Gorilla being held at the zoo. The 35 year-old female has lived at Pata Zoo for almost her entire life, since she was around a year old when she was acquired from a facility in Germany. It's rather shocking that she is still alone decades later.
Almost the entire Gorilla exhibit is metal bars and cement floors.
There are two Orangutans (of unknown species) in equally piss-poor circumstances.
All 9 primate species have prison-like cells, such as this one for albino Crab-eating Macaques.
There are two Stump-tailed Macaques (huddled at the back of my photo) in an enclosure that offers up literally zero enrichment as it's a slab of cement. There's a tiny water bowl, some natural sunlight, but nothing for the monkeys to explore on the hard, unyielding surface. They've probably gone insane from boredom.
One section has a row of half-glass, half-metal exhibits for species such as Leopard Cat, Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine and Dwarf Mongoose.
Capybaras are rock stars in Southeast Asian zoos and the exhibit here consists of a couple of slabs of cement (one on each side) and most of the area is a pool of water. There's not even a small hut for privacy.
Glancing through the ZooChat gallery, it's apparent that this zoo used to have mammal rarities such as Cream-coloured Giant Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Malayan Porcupine, Greater Hog Badger, Large Indian Civet, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Banded Linsang, Javan Mongoose and Golden Jackal, now all GONE from the collection. Instead, there's a number of empty and seemingly abandoned exhibits, often with broken floorboards (see the photo below) or collapsed roofs.
The focus on smaller animals indoors (on the 6th floor) is a bit more successful, although a rather narrow and barren exhibit for a Green Anaconda is very disappointing. The pool of water is a joke.
There's oddities like this open-topped tank for two species: Linne's Water Snake and Elephant Trunk Snake.
There's a couple of wall units packed with a variety of aquarium tanks, with the majority of the tanks having zero signage whatsoever so good luck making a species list. At least everything here is clean, modern and well-maintained.
And my last photo in this review will be of an Asian Monitor Lizard with a broken toilet.
Pata Zoo is not a very pleasant facility, but what I found interesting was the reaction of the taxi driver I was spending the day with. He had zero desire to see the snakes and butterflies earlier on our travels, but was more than happy for me to pay for his entrance into Pata Zoo. Even though we sort of half walked around together and then he went off to have a coffee and I continued walking alone (which I preferred), it was fascinating to observe him going around a zoo. He honestly saw no issue with some of the primate cages as "there's tires and poles for them to swing around on" but he did admit that the Stump-tailed Macaques looked bored on their slab of cement. He loved seeing the solitary Gorilla and in fact after we finished the 7th floor he sat and watched her while I headed down to the 6th floor. Each to their own.
With the many closed floors and overall rundown appearance, I struggle to see how this shopping mall complex remains financially viable. There was hardly anyone in the zoo during my visit, with the primate cages being so ghastly that it would be more of a nightmare than a dream to tour this place. However, the fish tanks and a number of the snake exhibits are decent. There's a whole section with some cobras and tarantulas that looks new-ish, but photography is not allowed and therefore I have no photos from that area. If Pata Zoo doesn't permanently close down, then I wonder if it could survive by focusing on reptiles and fish on the 6th floor and then mainly birds on the rooftop 7th floor? Somehow I doubt that the annual attendance would increase, but the animal conditions would be better.
Species list: Leopard Cat, Gorilla, Orangutan (unknown species), White-handed Gibbon, Crab-eating Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Rhesus Macaque, Northern Talapoin, Green Monkey, Brown Lemur, Capybara, Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine, Prairie Dog, Dwarf Mongoose, Flamingo (unknown species), Great Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-crowned Hornbill, Sun Parakeet, Rainbow Lory, Blue-and-gold Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Umbrella Cockatoo, Indian Peafowl, Yellow Anaconda, King Cobra, Linne’s Water Snake, Elephant Trunk Snake, Asian Water Monitor, Sailfin Dragon, Green Iguana, Blue-tongue Skink, Giant Asian Pond Turtle, Southeast Asian Box Turtle, Pig-nosed Turtle, Mata Mata, Redtail Catfish and Ripsaw Catfish. Plus, numerous reptiles and fish that were unsigned.
After Bangkok Snake Farm, Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo and Bangkok Butterfly Garden, it was time to drive 15 minutes southwest to my 4th zoo of the day. All of these places are very close together, but paying a taxi driver to chauffeur me around was by far the best option because it was cheaper than renting a vehicle, the Bangkok roads are death traps, and instead of attempting to navigate directions on my iPhone while avoiding dying I simply sat in the backseat and hung on to the seatbelt strap if we careened around a corner at a ridiculous speed.
Zoo/Aquarium #4: Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
When I have visited decrepit, rundown zoos in the past, in almost every instance I’ve not known what I was getting into. Numerous crappy, non-accredited zoos in U.S. states such as Arkansas, Texas, Michigan and especially Wisconsin, were ones that perhaps not a single other ZooChatter had ever been to. I have spent many summers touring top-notch zoological facilities, but to visit a complete unknown is a thrill and I never tire of popping into homegrown zoos for an hour or two in order to photograph and document a facility that no one I know has ever seen before. It’s almost impossible to accurately judge a zoo via its website, as some naff little menageries have online material that looks modern and fresh.
Even when I first went to Western Europe in 2019, I ended up at probably close to 15 zoos that didn’t even have galleries on ZooChat. If any zoo nerds had ever been before, they certainly hadn’t uploaded photos onto this site. Thankfully, even the worst zoos in Western Europe are far superior to the worst zoos in North America. The same rational could be applied to my Southeast Asia trip, as once again I visited a half-dozen places that are almost totally unrepresented on ZooChat.
I do my best to avoid strolling through abysmal zoos. Here are two examples. I once stood a block away from GuZoo Animal Farm (Alberta, Canada), an awful dump that operated from 1987 to 2015. I refused to go in as I’d read all the nasty reports from various organizations and several national newspapers had run articles slamming the zoo. I was tempted, and very curious, but it looked horrible from the outside and I couldn't justify handing my money over to a zoo I knew would be awful. When I was outside the centrally located Rome Zoo in late 2003, directly next to the gates, my travelling companion didn't really want to tour what was then a notably bad zoo and so I never went in. I love racking up my zoo count, but I'm not a mercenary.
However, Pata Zoo is a facility I knew would likely be awful and it goes against my trend of avoiding such places. The terrible ones I saw in Arkansas and Wisconsin were establishments I didn’t know would be atrocious as I was the first zoo nerd to document them. This time around, I was asked, by several individuals, to drop by Pata Zoo for an hour to get some updated photos of the zoo and those photos and this review will hopefully be one more nail in the coffin to get this joint closed down for good. The minimal entrance fee meant that the zoo didn’t get much out of me other than my time, and I uploaded approximately 60 photos into the gallery.
It's crazy to even see where Pata Zoo is located, as it’s inside a shopping mall in bustling, chaotic Bangkok. It opened in 1983 and takes up the 6th and 7th floors of the mall. For this 4th zoo of the day, I also paid for the taxi driver to come in with me as he was curious and I felt bad that he was often just sitting in his car while I was walking around outside. He told me that Covid has decimated many of the mall's stores and upon entering the ground floor (which was partially flooded and drenched everywhere!), I took the elevator and its glass doors revealed many entire floors of the building that were completely shut and closed off to the public. It's almost like a semi-abandoned apartment complex as the mall is a tall tower. On the 7th floor is the entrance to the zoo and it’s not a bad first impression. A glass-fronted flamingo habitat is there, complete with some initial hornbill aviaries that are tight on space.
The elevator to the 6th and 7th floors:
The open-topped, introductory flamingo exhibit:
A few aviaries are near the entrance, including one for a White-crowned Hornbill.
It's quite the experience wandering around a small zoo on the very top of a shopping mall tower, and there's a cafe and an eating area. The macaws in my photo are fake, with cool misted air blowing to dissipate the intense Bangkok heat.
Here's the view from the outdoor, 7th floor zone of this 'rooftop zoo'.
Primates is where Pata Zoo struggles, with all the primate exhibits being rather horrendous. An enormous fake Gorilla arm signals to visitors that they are close to the enclosure for Bua Noi, the solitary Lowland Gorilla being held at the zoo. The 35 year-old female has lived at Pata Zoo for almost her entire life, since she was around a year old when she was acquired from a facility in Germany. It's rather shocking that she is still alone decades later.
Almost the entire Gorilla exhibit is metal bars and cement floors.
There are two Orangutans (of unknown species) in equally piss-poor circumstances.
All 9 primate species have prison-like cells, such as this one for albino Crab-eating Macaques.
There are two Stump-tailed Macaques (huddled at the back of my photo) in an enclosure that offers up literally zero enrichment as it's a slab of cement. There's a tiny water bowl, some natural sunlight, but nothing for the monkeys to explore on the hard, unyielding surface. They've probably gone insane from boredom.
One section has a row of half-glass, half-metal exhibits for species such as Leopard Cat, Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine and Dwarf Mongoose.
Capybaras are rock stars in Southeast Asian zoos and the exhibit here consists of a couple of slabs of cement (one on each side) and most of the area is a pool of water. There's not even a small hut for privacy.
Glancing through the ZooChat gallery, it's apparent that this zoo used to have mammal rarities such as Cream-coloured Giant Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Malayan Porcupine, Greater Hog Badger, Large Indian Civet, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Banded Linsang, Javan Mongoose and Golden Jackal, now all GONE from the collection. Instead, there's a number of empty and seemingly abandoned exhibits, often with broken floorboards (see the photo below) or collapsed roofs.
The focus on smaller animals indoors (on the 6th floor) is a bit more successful, although a rather narrow and barren exhibit for a Green Anaconda is very disappointing. The pool of water is a joke.
There's oddities like this open-topped tank for two species: Linne's Water Snake and Elephant Trunk Snake.
There's a couple of wall units packed with a variety of aquarium tanks, with the majority of the tanks having zero signage whatsoever so good luck making a species list. At least everything here is clean, modern and well-maintained.
And my last photo in this review will be of an Asian Monitor Lizard with a broken toilet.
Pata Zoo is not a very pleasant facility, but what I found interesting was the reaction of the taxi driver I was spending the day with. He had zero desire to see the snakes and butterflies earlier on our travels, but was more than happy for me to pay for his entrance into Pata Zoo. Even though we sort of half walked around together and then he went off to have a coffee and I continued walking alone (which I preferred), it was fascinating to observe him going around a zoo. He honestly saw no issue with some of the primate cages as "there's tires and poles for them to swing around on" but he did admit that the Stump-tailed Macaques looked bored on their slab of cement. He loved seeing the solitary Gorilla and in fact after we finished the 7th floor he sat and watched her while I headed down to the 6th floor. Each to their own.
With the many closed floors and overall rundown appearance, I struggle to see how this shopping mall complex remains financially viable. There was hardly anyone in the zoo during my visit, with the primate cages being so ghastly that it would be more of a nightmare than a dream to tour this place. However, the fish tanks and a number of the snake exhibits are decent. There's a whole section with some cobras and tarantulas that looks new-ish, but photography is not allowed and therefore I have no photos from that area. If Pata Zoo doesn't permanently close down, then I wonder if it could survive by focusing on reptiles and fish on the 6th floor and then mainly birds on the rooftop 7th floor? Somehow I doubt that the annual attendance would increase, but the animal conditions would be better.
Species list: Leopard Cat, Gorilla, Orangutan (unknown species), White-handed Gibbon, Crab-eating Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Rhesus Macaque, Northern Talapoin, Green Monkey, Brown Lemur, Capybara, Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine, Prairie Dog, Dwarf Mongoose, Flamingo (unknown species), Great Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-crowned Hornbill, Sun Parakeet, Rainbow Lory, Blue-and-gold Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Umbrella Cockatoo, Indian Peafowl, Yellow Anaconda, King Cobra, Linne’s Water Snake, Elephant Trunk Snake, Asian Water Monitor, Sailfin Dragon, Green Iguana, Blue-tongue Skink, Giant Asian Pond Turtle, Southeast Asian Box Turtle, Pig-nosed Turtle, Mata Mata, Redtail Catfish and Ripsaw Catfish. Plus, numerous reptiles and fish that were unsigned.
With that first photo of the flamingo enclosure I thought that maybe you were setting this up to be a "looks like this place has improved since any ZooChatters were last here", since that honestly doesn't look so bad. But, nope.
I'm a little desensitized to awful primate enclosures but those look brutal. Not objectively the worst I've seen but they for sure are the most depressing looking zoo exhibits I'm aware of - wow!
I'm a little desensitized to awful primate enclosures but those look brutal. Not objectively the worst I've seen but they for sure are the most depressing looking zoo exhibits I'm aware of - wow!
Ah yes the infamous Pata Zoo. I avoided this place in 2012 and 2023.
I am still glad I did, even though I probably missed out on some rarities in 2012 (I believe they had linsangs back then)
Unfortunately I still ended up in a crappy zoo in Nicaragua last year. But I will take a page out of your book and educate people about this zoo once I finish writing my report and sorting out my photo's.
Four zoos down and so far I'm not yet envious of the things you've seen, but I'm sure that won't last long!
I am still glad I did, even though I probably missed out on some rarities in 2012 (I believe they had linsangs back then)
Unfortunately I still ended up in a crappy zoo in Nicaragua last year. But I will take a page out of your book and educate people about this zoo once I finish writing my report and sorting out my photo's.
Four zoos down and so far I'm not yet envious of the things you've seen, but I'm sure that won't last long!
This reminds me of a trip in Georgia where we had arranged transport from Ushgulli to get back out of the mountains. We very emphatically asked for someone who had not been drinking (which everyone there did) and paid extra for that too (on the mountain roads of Svanetia, there is a cross commemorating road casualties just about every kilometre). It was an 10-hour descending death ride during which our driver dived blindly into corners at very high speeds, braking at the very last moment to avoid a truck. All the while, I sat like petrified on the passenger seat while the driver laughed very much at this.
A zoo on the mall roof, that must surely be the very first time on Zoochat. Sounds awful and so it is when I read your review.
USZOOfan42
Well-Known Member
What Michigan zoos are you mainly referring to?
I've visited 20 zoos in the state of Michigan and I love Detroit and like Binder Park, John Ball and a few others, but there are some that lack quality. DeYoung Family Zoo had a number of absolutely abysmal enclosures when I toured that facility, plus Roscommon Zoo, Indian Creek Zoo, Wilderness Trails Zoo, GarLyn Zoo, Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary and Oswald's Bear Ranch are a long line of Michigan zoos that each have small, terrible exhibits and some good stuff as well. There's lots of my photos of these places in the ZooChat gallery.
Wasn't the Cockatoo part of the collection because you didn't put it on the species list of this small zooIn the background you can see visitors petting a cockatoo and in the foreground there's an open-topped Burmese Python enclosure. Feel free to touch the snake!
?BTW : Great thread again @snowleopard !!!
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
After Bangkok Snake Farm, Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo, Bangkok Butterfly Garden and the infamous rooftop Pata Zoo, it was time to drive 15 minutes southeast to my 5th and final zoo of the day. Actually, this time it was an aquarium!
Zoo/Aquarium #5: Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
Siam Ocean World opened in December 2005 but once Merlin Entertainments bought the company then inevitably this became a Sea Life aquarium. It's located on the bottom floor of the Siam Paragon Mall and is a typical Sea Life facility. According to the main Sea Life website, there's 45 of these franchises across the world, with 27 being in Europe, 10 in the USA, 4 in Asia and 4 between New Zealand and Australia. Some of them are 'original' Sea Lifes, newly constructed by Merlin, while others are revamped Sea Lifes, meaning that there was an existing aquarium (such as the one in Bangkok) that was retooled and redeveloped into a Sea Life franchise. I've personally visited around a dozen of them, plus I've been to the aquariums in Sydney and Melbourne but that was before they switched over to being Sea Life facilities.
Although many zoo nerds roll their eyes and stick up their noses when it comes to these 'McAquariums' that have proliferated across the globe, I will say that they are far better than many privately-owned, rather junky little aquariums I've seen on my travels. The Sea Life franchises are always neat and tidy, well-maintained, full of colourful signs and graphics, often open until late at night as they have shopping mall hours, and are appealing to families with young children. Every single time I visit one of these places they are always busy with loads of families. The downside is that tickets are expensive and sometimes there's the exact same exhibits at a variety of the establishments, so once you've seen a particular stingray tank at one aquarium then you've seen them all.
Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World entrance:
The aquarium has several crustaceans, such as a tank for Ornate Spiny Lobsters.
A typical Sea Life franchise has nice rock-work, clear water, clean tanks, excellent signage and occasionally some really choice species. Here's an exhibit for Weedy Sea Dragons and nearby was a tank for Weedy Scorpionfish.
I like the mini city inside the Spotted Garden Eel exhibit.
There's lots of interesting aquatic life in the Seahorse Kingdom gallery.
There's kid-friendly areas like this crawl-through tunnel tank.
A two-level Coral Reef tank is a memorable highlight.
I don't have a comprehensive species list, but this cave zone is pretty cool and there were a couple of large scorpions in one of the triangular terrariums. The pop-up bubbles are super popular and I held up a small line in order to get this photograph.
One gallery has a series of open-topped tanks, including this one with a large, fake skeleton.
There's exhibits for Archerfish (open-topped), Sailfin Dragons, a variety of cichlids, Pinecone Fish, Lionfish, and even an open-topped Oranda Goldfish tank with a ruined temple theme.
This is a high quality, open-topped Aquascape exhibit:
And there's a Living Wall exhibit that's lush and beautiful.
A mostly mock-rock enclosure for Small-clawed Otters was popular during my visit.
As was an open-topped, spacious tank for Arapaima, a massive Giant Freshwater Stingray and other fish species such as a few different catfishes.
The aquarium has a number of jellyfish exhibits in one room.
The piece de resistance of this aquarium is the shark tank zone, complete with a long underwater tunnel that allows visitors to walk beneath the swimming sharks.
The aquarium has both Gentoo and African Penguins, in separate exhibits and in different areas. Here's the Gentoo Penguin zone:
PHEW! It was an exhausting couple of days of my life, as if you recall it was approximately 27 hours of travelling from my house in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, to Bangkok, Thailand. Then I hauled my backpack around 5 small zoos all day long, while hopping in and out of a rented taxi along the way. My impression of Bangkok and its 11 million inhabitants was one of organized chaos, with the roads packed to the gills with vehicles and people, a tremendous number of citizens selling all sorts of products in little shops and food stands, and I felt that by bouncing around all across the city that I actually saw quite a lot of interesting temples and statues and noise and congestion in one extremely long day.
My summary for DAY ONE:
Bangkok Snake Farm - Well worth visiting, with a lot of information about snakes, decent exhibits and approximately 50 on-show species including several that I'd never seen before. I spent 1.5 hours there.
Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo - Only for zoo nerds looking to bolster their all-time totals, although there's nothing quite as thrilling as visiting an unknown, obscure zoo. 45 minute visit.
Bangkok Butterfly Garden - Nicely done, but only butterflies at the moment. The surrounding park is home to a bounty of wildlife. 1 hour visit including the walk through the park.
Pata Zoo - An infamous collection that is much reduced from its 'glory days' of rarities, housed on top of a crumbling old shopping mall. 1.5 hour visit.
Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World - A surprisingly well-maintained, high-quality aquarium that is nevertheless similar to other Sea Life franchises. 45 minute visit.
I grabbed some quick food on the run, was driven to the small apartment that @twilighter and I rented in Bangkok, and after a glorious shower I collapsed into bed and slept like the dead. It was a fantastic sleep, even though I was then up early on the Saturday morning as I needed to hail a cab and make my way to the airport to meet up with Konstantin. It was time for he and I to photograph a Marbled Cat! My solo, personal DAY ONE was just an appetizer for what was to come on this exhilarating trip.
After Bangkok Snake Farm, Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo, Bangkok Butterfly Garden and the infamous rooftop Pata Zoo, it was time to drive 15 minutes southeast to my 5th and final zoo of the day. Actually, this time it was an aquarium!
Zoo/Aquarium #5: Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
Siam Ocean World opened in December 2005 but once Merlin Entertainments bought the company then inevitably this became a Sea Life aquarium. It's located on the bottom floor of the Siam Paragon Mall and is a typical Sea Life facility. According to the main Sea Life website, there's 45 of these franchises across the world, with 27 being in Europe, 10 in the USA, 4 in Asia and 4 between New Zealand and Australia. Some of them are 'original' Sea Lifes, newly constructed by Merlin, while others are revamped Sea Lifes, meaning that there was an existing aquarium (such as the one in Bangkok) that was retooled and redeveloped into a Sea Life franchise. I've personally visited around a dozen of them, plus I've been to the aquariums in Sydney and Melbourne but that was before they switched over to being Sea Life facilities.
Although many zoo nerds roll their eyes and stick up their noses when it comes to these 'McAquariums' that have proliferated across the globe, I will say that they are far better than many privately-owned, rather junky little aquariums I've seen on my travels. The Sea Life franchises are always neat and tidy, well-maintained, full of colourful signs and graphics, often open until late at night as they have shopping mall hours, and are appealing to families with young children. Every single time I visit one of these places they are always busy with loads of families. The downside is that tickets are expensive and sometimes there's the exact same exhibits at a variety of the establishments, so once you've seen a particular stingray tank at one aquarium then you've seen them all.
Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World entrance:
The aquarium has several crustaceans, such as a tank for Ornate Spiny Lobsters.
A typical Sea Life franchise has nice rock-work, clear water, clean tanks, excellent signage and occasionally some really choice species. Here's an exhibit for Weedy Sea Dragons and nearby was a tank for Weedy Scorpionfish.
I like the mini city inside the Spotted Garden Eel exhibit.
There's lots of interesting aquatic life in the Seahorse Kingdom gallery.
There's kid-friendly areas like this crawl-through tunnel tank.
A two-level Coral Reef tank is a memorable highlight.
I don't have a comprehensive species list, but this cave zone is pretty cool and there were a couple of large scorpions in one of the triangular terrariums. The pop-up bubbles are super popular and I held up a small line in order to get this photograph.
One gallery has a series of open-topped tanks, including this one with a large, fake skeleton.
There's exhibits for Archerfish (open-topped), Sailfin Dragons, a variety of cichlids, Pinecone Fish, Lionfish, and even an open-topped Oranda Goldfish tank with a ruined temple theme.
This is a high quality, open-topped Aquascape exhibit:
And there's a Living Wall exhibit that's lush and beautiful.
A mostly mock-rock enclosure for Small-clawed Otters was popular during my visit.
As was an open-topped, spacious tank for Arapaima, a massive Giant Freshwater Stingray and other fish species such as a few different catfishes.
The aquarium has a number of jellyfish exhibits in one room.
The piece de resistance of this aquarium is the shark tank zone, complete with a long underwater tunnel that allows visitors to walk beneath the swimming sharks.
The aquarium has both Gentoo and African Penguins, in separate exhibits and in different areas. Here's the Gentoo Penguin zone:
PHEW! It was an exhausting couple of days of my life, as if you recall it was approximately 27 hours of travelling from my house in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, to Bangkok, Thailand. Then I hauled my backpack around 5 small zoos all day long, while hopping in and out of a rented taxi along the way. My impression of Bangkok and its 11 million inhabitants was one of organized chaos, with the roads packed to the gills with vehicles and people, a tremendous number of citizens selling all sorts of products in little shops and food stands, and I felt that by bouncing around all across the city that I actually saw quite a lot of interesting temples and statues and noise and congestion in one extremely long day.
My summary for DAY ONE:
Bangkok Snake Farm - Well worth visiting, with a lot of information about snakes, decent exhibits and approximately 50 on-show species including several that I'd never seen before. I spent 1.5 hours there.
Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo - Only for zoo nerds looking to bolster their all-time totals, although there's nothing quite as thrilling as visiting an unknown, obscure zoo. 45 minute visit.
Bangkok Butterfly Garden - Nicely done, but only butterflies at the moment. The surrounding park is home to a bounty of wildlife. 1 hour visit including the walk through the park.
Pata Zoo - An infamous collection that is much reduced from its 'glory days' of rarities, housed on top of a crumbling old shopping mall. 1.5 hour visit.
Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World - A surprisingly well-maintained, high-quality aquarium that is nevertheless similar to other Sea Life franchises. 45 minute visit.
I grabbed some quick food on the run, was driven to the small apartment that @twilighter and I rented in Bangkok, and after a glorious shower I collapsed into bed and slept like the dead. It was a fantastic sleep, even though I was then up early on the Saturday morning as I needed to hail a cab and make my way to the airport to meet up with Konstantin. It was time for he and I to photograph a Marbled Cat! My solo, personal DAY ONE was just an appetizer for what was to come on this exhilarating trip.
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Zz123
Well-Known Member
Pata zoo
I am saddened that there are people who wish to close Pata Zoo. Although the zoo is not in great condition at the moment, it was built by an owner who has a genuine love for animals. Moreover, this zoo has achieved some remarkable accomplishments.
Successfully bred the red-shanked douc, becoming one of the first in the world to do so, and also achieved the breeding of clouded leopards.
Has successfully kept a gorilla for over 20 years, something even the renowned Singapore Zoo, considered a world-class zoo, has not been able to achieve. I don't know if you guys know that there is a bacteria that causes melioidosis in the soil of Southeast Asia, so it is difficult to keep gorillas on the ground.
Donated rare birds, such as the red-headed vulture, to the Zoo Organization for their breeding program.
The zoo has now been improved, with larger animals moved to other locations and the areas for fish and reptiles being renovated. I believe that in the future, this zoo will likely focus on exhibiting smaller animals, fish, reptiles, and exotic pets.
I am saddened that there are people who wish to close Pata Zoo. Although the zoo is not in great condition at the moment, it was built by an owner who has a genuine love for animals. Moreover, this zoo has achieved some remarkable accomplishments.
Successfully bred the red-shanked douc, becoming one of the first in the world to do so, and also achieved the breeding of clouded leopards.
Has successfully kept a gorilla for over 20 years, something even the renowned Singapore Zoo, considered a world-class zoo, has not been able to achieve. I don't know if you guys know that there is a bacteria that causes melioidosis in the soil of Southeast Asia, so it is difficult to keep gorillas on the ground.
Donated rare birds, such as the red-headed vulture, to the Zoo Organization for their breeding program.
The zoo has now been improved, with larger animals moved to other locations and the areas for fish and reptiles being renovated. I believe that in the future, this zoo will likely focus on exhibiting smaller animals, fish, reptiles, and exotic pets.
I appreciate your comments but I'm not sure that many people would agree with you. It's not that difficult to keep a Gorilla alive in a tiny cement cage and the animal in question has been there for more than 30 years totally alone. This is why animal rights activists have repeatedly targeted Pata Zoo. All the primate enclosures there are diabolical and there's a broken toilet inside the Asian Monitor Lizard exhibit! I did say in my review that I wonder if the zoo could survive by focusing on reptiles, fish and birds, but the whole shopping mall complex looks half-empty so I'm not sure if that idea would work. If the solitary Gorilla, two Orangutans and 7 other primate species were all sent away to better homes, then it's tough to see Bangkok citizens going out of their way to visit the zoo.
Even some of the exhibits for smaller animals are shocking, such as this open-topped Pig-nosed Turtle tank with barely enough water to even cover the animal.
I saw the entrance to this place in 2012 as I passed right by it.
I don't remember exactly why I didn't visit, but I think it was evening and it might have already been closed at that point.
Is it bad that Pata Zoo looks so much more pleasant than one of my local zoos *cough cough* Medan Zoo
One day down and this is already shaping up to be a terrific report. I'll likely never get to any of the zoos you'll be describing outside of Singapore, but I always value learning about unfamiliar collections no matter how brutal they be. Speaking of which...
Shortly after reading your review of Pata Zoo, the video below popped up on my feed providing another perspective on this decrepit facility that was filmed around the time of your visit. Most American roadside zoos aren't pleasant affairs, but there's something especially uncanny about a zoo on the roof of a crumbling shopping mall surrounded by urban sprawl. Apparently pressure from animal rights activists also played in role in so many stores leaving the mall and the whole atmosphere of the place is truly dystopian. Obviously the exhibits are deplorable and not too long ago there were tigers, leopards and sun bears kept here in similarly horrific conditions. I don't care how much the owner loves animals, this place is beyond saving and I look forward to seeing it relegated to the dustbin of history.
I'm almost afraid to ask, but was the worst zoo you visited during this trip? Surely it can't get much worse right?
...
Right?
Shortly after reading your review of Pata Zoo, the video below popped up on my feed providing another perspective on this decrepit facility that was filmed around the time of your visit. Most American roadside zoos aren't pleasant affairs, but there's something especially uncanny about a zoo on the roof of a crumbling shopping mall surrounded by urban sprawl. Apparently pressure from animal rights activists also played in role in so many stores leaving the mall and the whole atmosphere of the place is truly dystopian. Obviously the exhibits are deplorable and not too long ago there were tigers, leopards and sun bears kept here in similarly horrific conditions. I don't care how much the owner loves animals, this place is beyond saving and I look forward to seeing it relegated to the dustbin of history.
I'm almost afraid to ask, but was the worst zoo you visited during this trip? Surely it can't get much worse right?
...
Right?
It's interesting that @Emanuel Theodorus thinks that Pata Zoo (Thailand) looks "so much more pleasant" than Medan Zoo (Indonesia). By that rationale, Medan must be terrible and I'm glad that I never visited it.
Thanks for that video @pachyderm pro and it will be interesting to see if Pata Zoo can survive for another few years or perhaps the whole shopping mall will be permanently closed. Pata was arguably not the worst zoo of the trip, as the first 3 days in Thailand saw me visit a few horrendous places. After those 3 days, then there wasn't a single terrible zoo that I regret visiting as many with dodgy exhibits at least had some good enclosures and of course several Southeast Asian zoos are world-class. But, truthfully, the first 3 days in Thailand was very much a hit-and-miss affair with zoos and the animal welfare laws in Thailand are the weakest of the 4 nations on my trip.
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
I went walking down the quiet, early morning streets of Bangkok and hailed a cab that was parked by the side of the road. It was kind of nice to stroll around without all the hustle and bustle of the insane nightlife that this part of the world is famous for. I took the 30-minute taxi ride and Bangkok has two major airports but the one that handles international flights is called Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport. Once there, I met up with @twilighter (Konstantin) and we didn't even head back to our small rented apartment and instead it was time to locate our driver for the rented vehicle and head off to a zoo! Konstantin had pre-booked a driver and we visited THREE zoos on his first day in Asia.
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
Konstantin didn't have quite the arduous journey to arrive in Thailand as I did coming from Canada, but he still had a very long, 11-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to Bangkok and yet, just like me, he was excited to begin our 3 weeks of zoo-ing together. He's a mammal species nerd hunter and through his various contacts (and he has a lot of them!), Konstantin figured out that this obscure wildlife center in rural Thailand held a single Marbled Cat and of course that put the zoo on our radar.
It was quite the drive to this establishment, close to two hours northeast from Bangkok. We left the hectic city and emerged into the beautiful countryside, with rice paddies and green jungle backdrops in all directions. Here we saw a lot of stray dogs running around, passed through rural villages with barefoot kids playing and adults sitting in little booths selling food by the side of the road, and eventually we arrived, via a long gravel road, at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1.
If you go to the Thailand - Other gallery on this site you will see that I uploaded approximately 70 photos from my visit. The first impression is serene, with a sprawling paddock for a large herd (circa 20 animals) of Asian Water Buffalo. It was an idyllic scene. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures here are basic, substandard cages. It was frustrating to visit an establishment surrounded by jungle, with wild lizards and birds in abundance, only to find mammals in cramped, sterile conditions.
I have no idea what that entrance sign says, but it welcomes visitors to the facility.
The huge Asian Water Buffalo enclosure with around 20 animals in the herd.
Almost all the workers spoke very limited English and I'm not sure that any of them realized the rarity of the Marbled Cat at their center, as Konstantin and I tried to engage in conversation with several individuals. Thankfully there was a tour going on at the time and we found a younger man who spoke perfect English and so he helped point out a few things here and there at the center. There's very little wayfinding at this facility, with basic signs and a haphazard layout of animal enclosures.
Of course, seeing the Marbled Cat was a real thrill and we spent quite a bit of time at the enclosure, which was essentially a small, barren cage. Our first Marbled Cat was a fantastic moment, especially for Konstantin as he had just stepped off a plane a couple of hours previous to this moment and so he was quite giddy with excitement. I'm not sure if there's another public zoo anywhere in the world that currently holds a Marbled Cat, so this particular animal is an extreme rarity for zoo nerds. Who could have predicted that Konstantin and I would, much later in the trip, visit a private zoo (that receives government funding) and see TEN Marbled Cats in a single room! That's going to be a great review towards the very end of this trip, although with almost zero images as photography wasn't allowed.
I also saw my very first Assam Macaque.
For only the 3rd time in my life, I saw some Golden Jackals and this center has 3 enclosures with the species. However, it's all pretty grim stuff and here's an example of one of the cages. What would those jackals do all day long?
Of course, this being Thailand that meant a row of Tiger exhibits that were all very small and functional.
You can see a couple of Tigers in even smaller holding cages in this photo. Some of the Tiger cages are probably only 9 feet wide and 15 feet long.
There's a handful of Asiatic Black Bears, all in tiny metal cages with cement floors and swinging tires. Even though these bears have all been 'rescued' from various circumstances, it was difficult seeing them in such conditions. I was shocked to see no pacing bears, as the employees were tossing in food and cleaning out cages throughout our visit.
The craziest thing of all, in my humble opinion, is that there are BRAND-NEW Asiatic Black Bear 'exhibits' that have just been built. Painted in bright yellow, these cages are pretty much identical to the old junky ones but when I spoke with the tour guide he said that the workers are very proud of the new enclosures and now the center can take in more problem bears. It was a really eye-opening situation for Konstantin and I, as we see how so many zoo nerds argue and debate about animal enclosures in rich Western zoos, but here in rural Thailand there are brand-new bear cages being built that are honestly horrendous and yet some of the people living there think these are amazing, modern enclosures. Wow!
The 'modern' cages:
There's a Leopard Cat cage that's a little smaller than the Marbled Cat cage.
There's no less than FIVE enclosures for Small-clawed Otters. I have no idea why this place has so many otters, but perhaps some of the animals are ex-pets?
There's a whole bunch of Southern Pig-tailed Macaques in 2-3 different cages.
There's also two enclosures with Binturongs.
There are several aviaries, such as this one for a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
I counted more than 20 Brahminy Kites in this single aviary.
A surprisingly large enclosure, although with only a little bit of water in tiny ponds along the edge, is home to several types of chelonians but there's zero signage anywhere.
Almost as shocking as seeing the stunning Marbled Cat was seeing an absolutely MASSIVE number of Crab-eating Macaques. In my visits to 610 different zoos and aquariums, I'd seen this species on 7 occasions prior to my big Asia trip and then I saw the species 7 more times just in Southeast Asia. Crab-eating Macaques are incredibly common there and we saw wild specimens on a number of occasions. For instance, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand), Konstantin and I literally saw hundreds of wild Crab-eating Macaques roaming all over the place and basically having the run of the zoo.
We couldn't believe how many we saw at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 and we lost count going around the place. Before we left, we actually walked back and found a staff member just because we were curious how many of these dang macaques they had. The answer is a shocking 1,200 Crab-eating Macaques, all in barren, old-fashioned cages that probably get hosed down and that's the extent of the cleaning. We saw numerous babies and so this place is not only 'rescuing' problem macaques but they are breeding them as well.
Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 obviously has a niche in that it takes in unwanted pets and problem animals and gives them a forever home. However, it's really tough to see a series of badly outdated cages (and in the case of the bears, brand-new cages!) while all around the facility is lush, thick jungle. The drive to this zoo is beautiful, the surrounding landscape is amazing, there's wild birds and lizards easily seen everywhere, but then a whole bunch of junky cages in a beatific setting. Seeing a Marbled Cat and an Assam Macaque for the first time in my life was pretty cool, but this is not a place I'd ever return to. I do know that Marbled Cats are such a rarity that Konstantin and I have already been asked for information from a half-dozen zoo nerds who wish to visit this place, and so I suppose that the establishment is a notable center mainly because of that one single mammal species.
Species list (circa 25 species): Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Asiatic Black Bear, Golden Jackal, Assam Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Crab-eating Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Sambar Deer, Asian Water Buffalo, Great Hornbill, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Australian Pelican, Barn Owl, Indian Peafowl, plus assorted turtles and tortoises.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
1- Bangkok Snake Farm (Bangkok, Thailand)
2- Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
3- Bangkok Butterfly Garden (Bangkok, Thailand)
4- Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
5- Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
6- Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
7- ??
8- ??
Thanks for that video @pachyderm pro and it will be interesting to see if Pata Zoo can survive for another few years or perhaps the whole shopping mall will be permanently closed. Pata was arguably not the worst zoo of the trip, as the first 3 days in Thailand saw me visit a few horrendous places. After those 3 days, then there wasn't a single terrible zoo that I regret visiting as many with dodgy exhibits at least had some good enclosures and of course several Southeast Asian zoos are world-class. But, truthfully, the first 3 days in Thailand was very much a hit-and-miss affair with zoos and the animal welfare laws in Thailand are the weakest of the 4 nations on my trip.
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
I went walking down the quiet, early morning streets of Bangkok and hailed a cab that was parked by the side of the road. It was kind of nice to stroll around without all the hustle and bustle of the insane nightlife that this part of the world is famous for. I took the 30-minute taxi ride and Bangkok has two major airports but the one that handles international flights is called Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport. Once there, I met up with @twilighter (Konstantin) and we didn't even head back to our small rented apartment and instead it was time to locate our driver for the rented vehicle and head off to a zoo! Konstantin had pre-booked a driver and we visited THREE zoos on his first day in Asia.
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
Konstantin didn't have quite the arduous journey to arrive in Thailand as I did coming from Canada, but he still had a very long, 11-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to Bangkok and yet, just like me, he was excited to begin our 3 weeks of zoo-ing together. He's a mammal species nerd hunter and through his various contacts (and he has a lot of them!), Konstantin figured out that this obscure wildlife center in rural Thailand held a single Marbled Cat and of course that put the zoo on our radar.
It was quite the drive to this establishment, close to two hours northeast from Bangkok. We left the hectic city and emerged into the beautiful countryside, with rice paddies and green jungle backdrops in all directions. Here we saw a lot of stray dogs running around, passed through rural villages with barefoot kids playing and adults sitting in little booths selling food by the side of the road, and eventually we arrived, via a long gravel road, at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1.
If you go to the Thailand - Other gallery on this site you will see that I uploaded approximately 70 photos from my visit. The first impression is serene, with a sprawling paddock for a large herd (circa 20 animals) of Asian Water Buffalo. It was an idyllic scene. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures here are basic, substandard cages. It was frustrating to visit an establishment surrounded by jungle, with wild lizards and birds in abundance, only to find mammals in cramped, sterile conditions.
I have no idea what that entrance sign says, but it welcomes visitors to the facility.
The huge Asian Water Buffalo enclosure with around 20 animals in the herd.
Almost all the workers spoke very limited English and I'm not sure that any of them realized the rarity of the Marbled Cat at their center, as Konstantin and I tried to engage in conversation with several individuals. Thankfully there was a tour going on at the time and we found a younger man who spoke perfect English and so he helped point out a few things here and there at the center. There's very little wayfinding at this facility, with basic signs and a haphazard layout of animal enclosures.
Of course, seeing the Marbled Cat was a real thrill and we spent quite a bit of time at the enclosure, which was essentially a small, barren cage. Our first Marbled Cat was a fantastic moment, especially for Konstantin as he had just stepped off a plane a couple of hours previous to this moment and so he was quite giddy with excitement. I'm not sure if there's another public zoo anywhere in the world that currently holds a Marbled Cat, so this particular animal is an extreme rarity for zoo nerds. Who could have predicted that Konstantin and I would, much later in the trip, visit a private zoo (that receives government funding) and see TEN Marbled Cats in a single room! That's going to be a great review towards the very end of this trip, although with almost zero images as photography wasn't allowed.
I also saw my very first Assam Macaque.
For only the 3rd time in my life, I saw some Golden Jackals and this center has 3 enclosures with the species. However, it's all pretty grim stuff and here's an example of one of the cages. What would those jackals do all day long?
Of course, this being Thailand that meant a row of Tiger exhibits that were all very small and functional.
You can see a couple of Tigers in even smaller holding cages in this photo. Some of the Tiger cages are probably only 9 feet wide and 15 feet long.
There's a handful of Asiatic Black Bears, all in tiny metal cages with cement floors and swinging tires. Even though these bears have all been 'rescued' from various circumstances, it was difficult seeing them in such conditions. I was shocked to see no pacing bears, as the employees were tossing in food and cleaning out cages throughout our visit.
The craziest thing of all, in my humble opinion, is that there are BRAND-NEW Asiatic Black Bear 'exhibits' that have just been built. Painted in bright yellow, these cages are pretty much identical to the old junky ones but when I spoke with the tour guide he said that the workers are very proud of the new enclosures and now the center can take in more problem bears. It was a really eye-opening situation for Konstantin and I, as we see how so many zoo nerds argue and debate about animal enclosures in rich Western zoos, but here in rural Thailand there are brand-new bear cages being built that are honestly horrendous and yet some of the people living there think these are amazing, modern enclosures. Wow!
The 'modern' cages:
There's a Leopard Cat cage that's a little smaller than the Marbled Cat cage.
There's no less than FIVE enclosures for Small-clawed Otters. I have no idea why this place has so many otters, but perhaps some of the animals are ex-pets?
There's a whole bunch of Southern Pig-tailed Macaques in 2-3 different cages.
There's also two enclosures with Binturongs.
There are several aviaries, such as this one for a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
I counted more than 20 Brahminy Kites in this single aviary.
A surprisingly large enclosure, although with only a little bit of water in tiny ponds along the edge, is home to several types of chelonians but there's zero signage anywhere.
Almost as shocking as seeing the stunning Marbled Cat was seeing an absolutely MASSIVE number of Crab-eating Macaques. In my visits to 610 different zoos and aquariums, I'd seen this species on 7 occasions prior to my big Asia trip and then I saw the species 7 more times just in Southeast Asia. Crab-eating Macaques are incredibly common there and we saw wild specimens on a number of occasions. For instance, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand), Konstantin and I literally saw hundreds of wild Crab-eating Macaques roaming all over the place and basically having the run of the zoo.
We couldn't believe how many we saw at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 and we lost count going around the place. Before we left, we actually walked back and found a staff member just because we were curious how many of these dang macaques they had. The answer is a shocking 1,200 Crab-eating Macaques, all in barren, old-fashioned cages that probably get hosed down and that's the extent of the cleaning. We saw numerous babies and so this place is not only 'rescuing' problem macaques but they are breeding them as well.
Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 obviously has a niche in that it takes in unwanted pets and problem animals and gives them a forever home. However, it's really tough to see a series of badly outdated cages (and in the case of the bears, brand-new cages!) while all around the facility is lush, thick jungle. The drive to this zoo is beautiful, the surrounding landscape is amazing, there's wild birds and lizards easily seen everywhere, but then a whole bunch of junky cages in a beatific setting. Seeing a Marbled Cat and an Assam Macaque for the first time in my life was pretty cool, but this is not a place I'd ever return to. I do know that Marbled Cats are such a rarity that Konstantin and I have already been asked for information from a half-dozen zoo nerds who wish to visit this place, and so I suppose that the establishment is a notable center mainly because of that one single mammal species.
Species list (circa 25 species): Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Asiatic Black Bear, Golden Jackal, Assam Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Crab-eating Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Sambar Deer, Asian Water Buffalo, Great Hornbill, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Australian Pelican, Barn Owl, Indian Peafowl, plus assorted turtles and tortoises.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
1- Bangkok Snake Farm (Bangkok, Thailand)
2- Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
3- Bangkok Butterfly Garden (Bangkok, Thailand)
4- Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
5- Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
6- Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
7- ??
8- ??
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It's interesting that @Emanuel Theodorus thinks that Pata Zoo (Thailand) looks "so much more pleasant" than Medan Zoo (Indonesia). By that rationale, Medan must be terrible and I'm glad that I never visited it.
Thanks for that video @pachyderm pro and it will be interesting to see if Pata Zoo can survive for another few years or perhaps the whole shopping mall will be permanently closed. Pata was arguably not the worst zoo of the trip, as the first 3 days in Thailand saw me visit a few horrendous places. After those 3 days, then there wasn't a single terrible zoo that I regret visiting as many with dodgy exhibits at least had some good enclosures and of course several Southeast Asian zoos are world-class. But, truthfully, the first 3 days in Thailand was very much a hit-and-miss affair with zoos and the animal welfare laws in Thailand are the weakest of the 4 nations on my trip.
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
I went walking down the quiet, early morning streets of Bangkok and hailed a cab that was parked by the side of the road. It was kind of nice to stroll around without all the hustle and bustle of the insane nightlife that this part of the world is famous for. I took the 30-minute taxi ride and Bangkok has two major airports but the one that handles international flights is called Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport. Once there, I met up with @twilighter (Konstantin) and we didn't even head back to our small rented apartment and instead it was time to locate our driver for the rented vehicle and head off to a zoo! Konstantin had pre-booked a driver and we visited THREE zoos on his first day in Asia.
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
Konstantin didn't have quite the arduous journey to arrive in Thailand as I did coming from Canada, but he still had a very long, 11-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to Bangkok and yet, just like me, he was excited to begin our 3 weeks of zoo-ing together. He's a mammal species nerd hunter and through his various contacts (and he has a lot of them!), Konstantin figured out that this obscure wildlife center in rural Thailand held a single Marbled Cat and of course that put the zoo on our radar.
It was quite the drive to this establishment, close to two hours northeast from Bangkok. We left the hectic city and emerged into the beautiful countryside, with rice paddies and green jungle backdrops in all directions. Here we saw a lot of stray dogs running around, passed through rural villages with barefoot kids playing and adults sitting in little booths selling food by the side of the road, and eventually we arrived, via a long gravel road, at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1.
If you go to the Thailand - Other gallery on this site you will see that I uploaded approximately 70 photos from my visit. The first impression is serene, with a sprawling paddock for a large herd (circa 20 animals) of Asian Water Buffalo. It was an idyllic scene. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures here are basic, substandard cages. It was frustrating to visit an establishment surrounded by jungle, with wild lizards and birds in abundance, only to find mammals in cramped, sterile conditions.
I have no idea what that entrance sign says, but it welcomes visitors to the facility.
The huge Asian Water Buffalo enclosure with around 20 animals in the herd.
Almost all the workers spoke very limited English and I'm not sure that any of them realized the rarity of the Marbled Cat at their center, as Konstantin and I tried to engage in conversation with several individuals. Thankfully there was a tour going on at the time and we found a younger man who spoke perfect English and so he helped point out a few things here and there at the center. There's very little wayfinding at this facility, with basic signs and a haphazard layout of animal enclosures.
Of course, seeing the Marbled Cat was a real thrill and we spent quite a bit of time at the enclosure, which was essentially a small, barren cage. Our first Marbled Cat was a fantastic moment, especially for Konstantin as he had just stepped off a plane a couple of hours previous to this moment and so he was quite giddy with excitement. I'm not sure if there's another public zoo anywhere in the world that currently holds a Marbled Cat, so this particular animal is an extreme rarity for zoo nerds. Who could have predicted that Konstantin and I would, much later in the trip, visit a private zoo (that receives government funding) and see TEN Marbled Cats in a single room! That's going to be a great review towards the very end of this trip.
I also saw my very first Assam Macaque.
For only the 3rd time in my life, I saw some Golden Jackals and this center has 3 enclosures with the species. However, it's all pretty grim stuff and here's an example of one of the cages. What would those jackals do all day long?
Of course, this being Thailand that meant a row of Tiger exhibits that were all very small and functional.
You can see a couple of Tigers in even smaller holding cages in this photo. Some of the Tiger cages are probably only 9 feet wide and 15 feet long.
There's a handful of Asiatic Black Bears, all in tiny metal cages with cement floors and swinging tires. Even though these bears have all been 'rescued' from various circumstances, it was difficult seeing them in such conditions. I was shocked to see no pacing bears, as the employees were tossing in food and cleaning out cages throughout our visit.
The craziest thing of all, in my humble opinion, is that there are BRAND-NEW Asiatic Black Bear 'exhibits' that have just been built. Painted in bright yellow, these cages are pretty much identical to the old junky ones but when I spoke with the tour guide he said that the workers are very proud of the new enclosures and now the center can take in more problem bears. It was a really eye-opening situation for Konstantin and I, as we see how so many zoo nerds argue and debate about animal enclosures in rich Western zoos, but here in rural Thailand there are brand-new bear cages being built that are honestly horrendous and yet some of the people living there think these are amazing, modern enclosures. Wow!
The 'modern' cages:
There's a Leopard Cat cage that's a little smaller than the Marbled Cat cage.
There's no less than FIVE enclosures for Small-clawed Otters. I have no idea why this place has so many otters, but perhaps some of the animals are ex-pets?
There's a whole bunch of Southern Pig-tailed Macaques in 2-3 different cages.
There's also two enclosures with Binturongs.
There are several aviaries, such as this one for a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
I counted more than 20 Brahminy Kites in this single aviary.
A surprisingly large enclosure, although with only a little bit of water in tiny ponds along the edge, is home to several types of chelonians but there's zero signage anywhere.
Almost as shocking as seeing the stunning Marbled Cat was seeing an absolutely MASSIVE number of Crab-eating Macaques. In my visits to 610 different zoos and aquariums, I'd seen this species on 7 occasions prior to my big Asia trip and then I saw the species 7 more times just in Southeast Asia. Crab-eating Macaques are incredibly common there and we saw wild specimens on a number of occasions. For instance, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand), Konstantin and I literally saw hundreds of wild Crab-eating Macaques roaming all over the place and basically having the run of the zoo.
We couldn't believe how many we saw at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 and we lost count going around the place. Before we left, we actually walked back and found a staff member just because we were curious how many of these dang macaques they had. The answer is a shocking 1,200 Crab-eating Macaques, all in barren, old-fashioned cages that probably get hosed down and that's the extent of the cleaning. We saw numerous babies and so this place is not only 'rescuing' problem macaques but they are breeding them as well.
Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 obviously has a niche in that it takes in unwanted pets and problem animals and gives them a forever home. However, it's really tough to see a series of badly outdated cages (and in the case of the bears, brand-new cages!) while all around the facility is lush, thick jungle. The drive to this zoo is beautiful, the surrounding landscape is amazing, there's wild birds and lizards easily seen everywhere, but then a whole bunch of junky cages in a beatific setting. Seeing a Marbled Cat and an Assam Macaque for the first time in my life was pretty cool, but this is not a place I'd ever return to. I do know that Marbled Cats are such a rarity that Konstantin and I have already been asked for information from a half-dozen zoo nerds who wish to visit this place, and so I suppose that the establishment is a notable center mainly because of that one single mammal species.
Species list (circa 25 species): Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Asiatic Black Bear, Golden Jackal, Assam Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Crab-eating Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Sambar Deer, Asian Water Buffalo, Great Hornbill, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Australian Pelican, Barn Owl, Indian Peafowl, plus assorted turtles and tortoises.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
1- Bangkok Snake Farm (Bangkok, Thailand)
2- Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
3- Bangkok Butterfly Garden (Bangkok, Thailand)
4- Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
5- Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
6- Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
7- ??
8- ??
There are actually, at least two more institutions that hold Marbled Cats and even breed them. One of them (Novosibirsk) is public and I was holding a flight ticket, just before the War started. Unfortunately now the only realistic place to see Marbled Cat is Nakhon Nayok.
Some of the enclosures ware really difficult to accept, but as a part of free access rescue center, which is maintained mainly by volunteers and students and doesn't have many resources, we didn't expect much...
The Marbled Cat was in a good health condition, but as far as I understood can't be returned to the Wild. Hopefully more people manage to see him and be inspired for the spieces conservation the way we did.
The close encounter was one of the most memorable moments of the entire trip!
This is the moment to ask for help for ID two intresting Eagle species that we saw at this place:
1. Blyth's Hawk-Eagle or Mountain Hawk-Eagle?
2. Changeable Hawk-Eagle
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Rizz Carlton
Well-Known Member
"Terrible" is a heavy understatement
On a side note, I don't really like when people bringing up "a even worse" comparison when we're talking about a place that are just as bad, if not worst. It's really distracting from the main discourse of the main issue (Like the situation at Pata Zoo, for example) and sometimes people ended up try to justify the place's current state from that comparison. Having a gorilla and primates in a small, indoor confined spaces for likely their entire life is just a bad as starving and dying tigers. Sadly enough, Pata Zoo is exactly one of those places that would be very popular and heavily marketed with people here in Indonesia.
It seems Southeast Asian zoos are rarity-heavy. Congratulations on your first marbled cat! Did you see any other rare felids during your trip to Southeast Asia? Chlidonias was lucky enough to see a wild flat-headed cat in Borneo a few years ago.It's interesting that @Emanuel Theodorus thinks that Pata Zoo (Thailand) looks "so much more pleasant" than Medan Zoo (Indonesia). By that rationale, Medan must be terrible and I'm glad that I never visited it.
Thanks for that video @pachyderm pro and it will be interesting to see if Pata Zoo can survive for another few years or perhaps the whole shopping mall will be permanently closed. Pata was arguably not the worst zoo of the trip, as the first 3 days in Thailand saw me visit a few horrendous places. After those 3 days, then there wasn't a single terrible zoo that I regret visiting as many with dodgy exhibits at least had some good enclosures and of course several Southeast Asian zoos are world-class. But, truthfully, the first 3 days in Thailand was very much a hit-and-miss affair with zoos and the animal welfare laws in Thailand are the weakest of the 4 nations on my trip.
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
I went walking down the quiet, early morning streets of Bangkok and hailed a cab that was parked by the side of the road. It was kind of nice to stroll around without all the hustle and bustle of the insane nightlife that this part of the world is famous for. I took the 30-minute taxi ride and Bangkok has two major airports but the one that handles international flights is called Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport. Once there, I met up with @twilighter (Konstantin) and we didn't even head back to our small rented apartment and instead it was time to locate our driver for the rented vehicle and head off to a zoo! Konstantin had pre-booked a driver and we visited THREE zoos on his first day in Asia.
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
Konstantin didn't have quite the arduous journey to arrive in Thailand as I did coming from Canada, but he still had a very long, 11-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to Bangkok and yet, just like me, he was excited to begin our 3 weeks of zoo-ing together. He's a mammal species nerd hunter and through his various contacts (and he has a lot of them!), Konstantin figured out that this obscure wildlife center in rural Thailand held a single Marbled Cat and of course that put the zoo on our radar.
It was quite the drive to this establishment, close to two hours northeast from Bangkok. We left the hectic city and emerged into the beautiful countryside, with rice paddies and green jungle backdrops in all directions. Here we saw a lot of stray dogs running around, passed through rural villages with barefoot kids playing and adults sitting in little booths selling food by the side of the road, and eventually we arrived, via a long gravel road, at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1.
If you go to the Thailand - Other gallery on this site you will see that I uploaded approximately 70 photos from my visit. The first impression is serene, with a sprawling paddock for a large herd (circa 20 animals) of Asian Water Buffalo. It was an idyllic scene. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures here are basic, substandard cages. It was frustrating to visit an establishment surrounded by jungle, with wild lizards and birds in abundance, only to find mammals in cramped, sterile conditions.
I have no idea what that entrance sign says, but it welcomes visitors to the facility.
The huge Asian Water Buffalo enclosure with around 20 animals in the herd.
Almost all the workers spoke very limited English and I'm not sure that any of them realized the rarity of the Marbled Cat at their center, as Konstantin and I tried to engage in conversation with several individuals. Thankfully there was a tour going on at the time and we found a younger man who spoke perfect English and so he helped point out a few things here and there at the center. There's very little wayfinding at this facility, with basic signs and a haphazard layout of animal enclosures.
Of course, seeing the Marbled Cat was a real thrill and we spent quite a bit of time at the enclosure, which was essentially a small, barren cage. Our first Marbled Cat was a fantastic moment, especially for Konstantin as he had just stepped off a plane a couple of hours previous to this moment and so he was quite giddy with excitement. I'm not sure if there's another public zoo anywhere in the world that currently holds a Marbled Cat, so this particular animal is an extreme rarity for zoo nerds. Who could have predicted that Konstantin and I would, much later in the trip, visit a private zoo (that receives government funding) and see TEN Marbled Cats in a single room! That's going to be a great review towards the very end of this trip, although with almost zero images as photography wasn't allowed.
I also saw my very first Assam Macaque.
For only the 3rd time in my life, I saw some Golden Jackals and this center has 3 enclosures with the species. However, it's all pretty grim stuff and here's an example of one of the cages. What would those jackals do all day long?
Of course, this being Thailand that meant a row of Tiger exhibits that were all very small and functional.
You can see a couple of Tigers in even smaller holding cages in this photo. Some of the Tiger cages are probably only 9 feet wide and 15 feet long.
There's a handful of Asiatic Black Bears, all in tiny metal cages with cement floors and swinging tires. Even though these bears have all been 'rescued' from various circumstances, it was difficult seeing them in such conditions. I was shocked to see no pacing bears, as the employees were tossing in food and cleaning out cages throughout our visit.
The craziest thing of all, in my humble opinion, is that there are BRAND-NEW Asiatic Black Bear 'exhibits' that have just been built. Painted in bright yellow, these cages are pretty much identical to the old junky ones but when I spoke with the tour guide he said that the workers are very proud of the new enclosures and now the center can take in more problem bears. It was a really eye-opening situation for Konstantin and I, as we see how so many zoo nerds argue and debate about animal enclosures in rich Western zoos, but here in rural Thailand there are brand-new bear cages being built that are honestly horrendous and yet some of the people living there think these are amazing, modern enclosures. Wow!
The 'modern' cages:
There's a Leopard Cat cage that's a little smaller than the Marbled Cat cage.
There's no less than FIVE enclosures for Small-clawed Otters. I have no idea why this place has so many otters, but perhaps some of the animals are ex-pets?
There's a whole bunch of Southern Pig-tailed Macaques in 2-3 different cages.
There's also two enclosures with Binturongs.
There are several aviaries, such as this one for a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
I counted more than 20 Brahminy Kites in this single aviary.
A surprisingly large enclosure, although with only a little bit of water in tiny ponds along the edge, is home to several types of chelonians but there's zero signage anywhere.
Almost as shocking as seeing the stunning Marbled Cat was seeing an absolutely MASSIVE number of Crab-eating Macaques. In my visits to 610 different zoos and aquariums, I'd seen this species on 7 occasions prior to my big Asia trip and then I saw the species 7 more times just in Southeast Asia. Crab-eating Macaques are incredibly common there and we saw wild specimens on a number of occasions. For instance, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand), Konstantin and I literally saw hundreds of wild Crab-eating Macaques roaming all over the place and basically having the run of the zoo.
We couldn't believe how many we saw at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 and we lost count going around the place. Before we left, we actually walked back and found a staff member just because we were curious how many of these dang macaques they had. The answer is a shocking 1,200 Crab-eating Macaques, all in barren, old-fashioned cages that probably get hosed down and that's the extent of the cleaning. We saw numerous babies and so this place is not only 'rescuing' problem macaques but they are breeding them as well.
Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 obviously has a niche in that it takes in unwanted pets and problem animals and gives them a forever home. However, it's really tough to see a series of badly outdated cages (and in the case of the bears, brand-new cages!) while all around the facility is lush, thick jungle. The drive to this zoo is beautiful, the surrounding landscape is amazing, there's wild birds and lizards easily seen everywhere, but then a whole bunch of junky cages in a beatific setting. Seeing a Marbled Cat and an Assam Macaque for the first time in my life was pretty cool, but this is not a place I'd ever return to. I do know that Marbled Cats are such a rarity that Konstantin and I have already been asked for information from a half-dozen zoo nerds who wish to visit this place, and so I suppose that the establishment is a notable center mainly because of that one single mammal species.
Species list (circa 25 species): Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Asiatic Black Bear, Golden Jackal, Assam Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Crab-eating Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Sambar Deer, Asian Water Buffalo, Great Hornbill, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Australian Pelican, Barn Owl, Indian Peafowl, plus assorted turtles and tortoises.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
1- Bangkok Snake Farm (Bangkok, Thailand)
2- Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
3- Bangkok Butterfly Garden (Bangkok, Thailand)
4- Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
5- Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
6- Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
7- ??
8- ??
I guess one of the last places you need to tour in order to finish off felids is South America. I am guessing you have never seen either species of colocolo (Chilean, Pampas and Pantanal cats) or the kodkod.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
It's interesting that @Emanuel Theodorus thinks that Pata Zoo (Thailand) looks "so much more pleasant" than Medan Zoo (Indonesia). By that rationale, Medan must be terrible and I'm glad that I never visited it.
Thanks for that video @pachyderm pro and it will be interesting to see if Pata Zoo can survive for another few years or perhaps the whole shopping mall will be permanently closed. Pata was arguably not the worst zoo of the trip, as the first 3 days in Thailand saw me visit a few horrendous places. After those 3 days, then there wasn't a single terrible zoo that I regret visiting as many with dodgy exhibits at least had some good enclosures and of course several Southeast Asian zoos are world-class. But, truthfully, the first 3 days in Thailand was very much a hit-and-miss affair with zoos and the animal welfare laws in Thailand are the weakest of the 4 nations on my trip.
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
I went walking down the quiet, early morning streets of Bangkok and hailed a cab that was parked by the side of the road. It was kind of nice to stroll around without all the hustle and bustle of the insane nightlife that this part of the world is famous for. I took the 30-minute taxi ride and Bangkok has two major airports but the one that handles international flights is called Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport. Once there, I met up with @twilighter (Konstantin) and we didn't even head back to our small rented apartment and instead it was time to locate our driver for the rented vehicle and head off to a zoo! Konstantin had pre-booked a driver and we visited THREE zoos on his first day in Asia.
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
Konstantin didn't have quite the arduous journey to arrive in Thailand as I did coming from Canada, but he still had a very long, 11-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to Bangkok and yet, just like me, he was excited to begin our 3 weeks of zoo-ing together. He's a mammal species nerd hunter and through his various contacts (and he has a lot of them!), Konstantin figured out that this obscure wildlife center in rural Thailand held a single Marbled Cat and of course that put the zoo on our radar.
It was quite the drive to this establishment, close to two hours northeast from Bangkok. We left the hectic city and emerged into the beautiful countryside, with rice paddies and green jungle backdrops in all directions. Here we saw a lot of stray dogs running around, passed through rural villages with barefoot kids playing and adults sitting in little booths selling food by the side of the road, and eventually we arrived, via a long gravel road, at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1.
If you go to the Thailand - Other gallery on this site you will see that I uploaded approximately 70 photos from my visit. The first impression is serene, with a sprawling paddock for a large herd (circa 20 animals) of Asian Water Buffalo. It was an idyllic scene. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures here are basic, substandard cages. It was frustrating to visit an establishment surrounded by jungle, with wild lizards and birds in abundance, only to find mammals in cramped, sterile conditions.
I have no idea what that entrance sign says, but it welcomes visitors to the facility.
The huge Asian Water Buffalo enclosure with around 20 animals in the herd.
Almost all the workers spoke very limited English and I'm not sure that any of them realized the rarity of the Marbled Cat at their center, as Konstantin and I tried to engage in conversation with several individuals. Thankfully there was a tour going on at the time and we found a younger man who spoke perfect English and so he helped point out a few things here and there at the center. There's very little wayfinding at this facility, with basic signs and a haphazard layout of animal enclosures.
Of course, seeing the Marbled Cat was a real thrill and we spent quite a bit of time at the enclosure, which was essentially a small, barren cage. Our first Marbled Cat was a fantastic moment, especially for Konstantin as he had just stepped off a plane a couple of hours previous to this moment and so he was quite giddy with excitement. I'm not sure if there's another public zoo anywhere in the world that currently holds a Marbled Cat, so this particular animal is an extreme rarity for zoo nerds. Who could have predicted that Konstantin and I would, much later in the trip, visit a private zoo (that receives government funding) and see TEN Marbled Cats in a single room! That's going to be a great review towards the very end of this trip, although with almost zero images as photography wasn't allowed.
I also saw my very first Assam Macaque.
For only the 3rd time in my life, I saw some Golden Jackals and this center has 3 enclosures with the species. However, it's all pretty grim stuff and here's an example of one of the cages. What would those jackals do all day long?
Of course, this being Thailand that meant a row of Tiger exhibits that were all very small and functional.
You can see a couple of Tigers in even smaller holding cages in this photo. Some of the Tiger cages are probably only 9 feet wide and 15 feet long.
There's a handful of Asiatic Black Bears, all in tiny metal cages with cement floors and swinging tires. Even though these bears have all been 'rescued' from various circumstances, it was difficult seeing them in such conditions. I was shocked to see no pacing bears, as the employees were tossing in food and cleaning out cages throughout our visit.
The craziest thing of all, in my humble opinion, is that there are BRAND-NEW Asiatic Black Bear 'exhibits' that have just been built. Painted in bright yellow, these cages are pretty much identical to the old junky ones but when I spoke with the tour guide he said that the workers are very proud of the new enclosures and now the center can take in more problem bears. It was a really eye-opening situation for Konstantin and I, as we see how so many zoo nerds argue and debate about animal enclosures in rich Western zoos, but here in rural Thailand there are brand-new bear cages being built that are honestly horrendous and yet some of the people living there think these are amazing, modern enclosures. Wow!
The 'modern' cages:
There's a Leopard Cat cage that's a little smaller than the Marbled Cat cage.
There's no less than FIVE enclosures for Small-clawed Otters. I have no idea why this place has so many otters, but perhaps some of the animals are ex-pets?
There's a whole bunch of Southern Pig-tailed Macaques in 2-3 different cages.
There's also two enclosures with Binturongs.
There are several aviaries, such as this one for a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
I counted more than 20 Brahminy Kites in this single aviary.
A surprisingly large enclosure, although with only a little bit of water in tiny ponds along the edge, is home to several types of chelonians but there's zero signage anywhere.
Almost as shocking as seeing the stunning Marbled Cat was seeing an absolutely MASSIVE number of Crab-eating Macaques. In my visits to 610 different zoos and aquariums, I'd seen this species on 7 occasions prior to my big Asia trip and then I saw the species 7 more times just in Southeast Asia. Crab-eating Macaques are incredibly common there and we saw wild specimens on a number of occasions. For instance, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand), Konstantin and I literally saw hundreds of wild Crab-eating Macaques roaming all over the place and basically having the run of the zoo.
We couldn't believe how many we saw at Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 and we lost count going around the place. Before we left, we actually walked back and found a staff member just because we were curious how many of these dang macaques they had. The answer is a shocking 1,200 Crab-eating Macaques, all in barren, old-fashioned cages that probably get hosed down and that's the extent of the cleaning. We saw numerous babies and so this place is not only 'rescuing' problem macaques but they are breeding them as well.
Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 obviously has a niche in that it takes in unwanted pets and problem animals and gives them a forever home. However, it's really tough to see a series of badly outdated cages (and in the case of the bears, brand-new cages!) while all around the facility is lush, thick jungle. The drive to this zoo is beautiful, the surrounding landscape is amazing, there's wild birds and lizards easily seen everywhere, but then a whole bunch of junky cages in a beatific setting. Seeing a Marbled Cat and an Assam Macaque for the first time in my life was pretty cool, but this is not a place I'd ever return to. I do know that Marbled Cats are such a rarity that Konstantin and I have already been asked for information from a half-dozen zoo nerds who wish to visit this place, and so I suppose that the establishment is a notable center mainly because of that one single mammal species.
Species list (circa 25 species): Tiger, Marbled Cat, Leopard Cat, Asiatic Black Bear, Golden Jackal, Assam Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Crab-eating Macaque, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Small-clawed Otter, Binturong, Sambar Deer, Asian Water Buffalo, Great Hornbill, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Australian Pelican, Barn Owl, Indian Peafowl, plus assorted turtles and tortoises.
DAY 1: Friday, August 2nd
1- Bangkok Snake Farm (Bangkok, Thailand)
2- Peuan Deratchan Mini Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
3- Bangkok Butterfly Garden (Bangkok, Thailand)
4- Pata Zoo (Bangkok, Thailand)
5- Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World (Bangkok, Thailand)
DAY 2: Saturday, August 3rd
6- Wildlife Rescue Center No. 1 (Nakhon Nayok, Thailand)
7- ??
8- ??
Interesting report and thanks for sharing the pics etc but in conservation / animnal welfare terms isn't the term 'problem macaque' really a construction of convenience? These are animals driven into close contact with people through habitat loss, urbanisation, tourism promotion etc, who then act out wholly expected macaque like behaviours and disrupt the lives of the people who took their spaces. So they get 'rescued' or removed and stuck in cages to live out their time, if they are lucky.
When the authorities carry out the much publicised 'cleaning up' of macaques and troublesome monkeys (in Lopburi for example) it's not to do with animal welfare. It's a good example of humans only wanting to coexist with animals if they ensure a profit and don't get too much in the way. What were these monkeys really being rescued from. The authorities have tried contraception programmes etc but surely it needs more of a rethink about the use of space and the animals place in the environment than putting hundreds of animals in tiny cages.
I get visiting this sort of place for a species etc (though I find that difficult) but those conditions look simply awful (apart from the buffalo). Obviously it's operating in the context of it's country and it's funding, the centre itself hasn't caused the problem and indeed isn't to blame for it, but the macaques and other animals shouldn't be living like that.