In zoos in the 3rd world the glass fronts can keep people from throwing objects at the animals or poking at them with sticks. I have seen this in latin america.
yes I quite agree. I prefer windows from that perspective, and I have seen it used in China and elsewhere for this purpose. Of course it also has the dual feature of making the cage look less like a cage and more modern, even if it is not otherwise changed.
Curiously, it looks as though the right-hand cage is where the Indochinese Tigers were when I visited. If so, it was rather more densely planted and quite a bit better than it would appear from what is left (though clearly too small!). It was also better-planted than the enclosure in use here, from what I can see!
Possibly there is just an identical cage, but it looks like the one:
it could be, but there was also a tiger cage at the other end of the row. I'm not sure if that one had the distinctive low wall around it though. All these glass-fronted cages (including the lions elsewhere) would have been barred when you were there, yes?
Also the barred cage in the above photo (my photo) doesn't have any inhabitants. The doors were open, and I think it is being left as an example of what the cages used to look like - even though all they've really done is replaced the bars with glass.
