Chimp

You went in there then.

@Ned I wanted to see what sort of 'sanctuary' is being touted to replace zoos. Very bleak if you ask me.

The other picture is even worse than this one, that room/cell is entirely bare, this one at least has something in it.

That said, this is pretty bad. If this were at any zoo we'd be castigating it around here probably, and very rightfully so. And it being a sanctuary surely doesn't excuse this - aren't the animals supposed to be in a good and safe place at a sanctuary, and not inmates in what looks somewhat like a third world prison?

I've seen a few not so great chimpansee exhibits, but they were not quite as bit as this. I think this one is right up there with the worst, most substandard chimp exhibits I've seen on this site. And there's definitely sanctuaries that do (much) better than this...

No, honestly seeing this exhibits I don't see how a place like this has any place attacking zoos. Seeing specks in someone's else eyes while ignoring the log in their own and all that jazz...

@KevinB To be fair, I think there is another room beyond what you see in the other photo, but it's not really visible. But, I didn't see much in the other houses to raise hopes of better standards.

@littleRedPanda Are the rooms in these two images connected somehow or are they separate exhibits?

@KevinB These are two separate 'exhibits' with I think 6 chimps sharing the other one, so I seriously hope there is more beyond what we see ... but given the size of the building and what I saw elsewhere, there cannot be much more.

@littleRedPanda If there is anything more and it is of the same low standard as what we see, it wouldn't do squat for these chimps I don't think.

This place looks like some third world animal prison of the kind rightfully attacked by animal lovers rather than a decent sanctuary.

@KevinB WAMS have been whipping up their friends' anger at the conditions at Wuppertal (cold hard concrete floors ... "single" outdoor enclosure between 4 apes and locked in all winter), while they regard this to be an alternative. The indoors at WAMS look intentionally bare in order to encourage the animals to go 'freely" outside for their paying guests to view.

Well, WAMS and their animal rights friends have a biased agenda against zoos and an encyclopedia of double standards so that would come as no surprise.

I visited Wuppertal once (quite a few years ago though and I haven't succeeded at going back there since) and I do remember their primate accomodations as not being optimal and not very modern. However they still don't look quite as bad and sad as this.

What are the outdoor exhibits at WAMS like, any good?

@KevinB The outdoor areas are fairly represented in the gallery already; I've seen smaller in some cases at established zoos.