While visiting Vietnam in April I made a point of checking out Saigon Zoo.
I had heard conflicting reports of it, ranging from good to abysmal. I'm therefore happy to say that, apart from one or two less than adequate features, it is not too bad at all.
For a start, it has a great setting, being located in the Saigon Botanical Gardens among magnificent tropical trees. It is well spread out - there's plenty of room, and enclosures are not butted up against each other. And it has all the classic animals which are expected of a mainstream zoo - apes, big cats and the "big four"; elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes.
Ungulates also include herds of Greater Kudu, Gemsbok, lots of (Asiatic) deer, such as Sambar, Axis and Muntjacs. There are a few individuals too; a Blesbok in with the Kudus and a solitary Wildebeest living, apparently quite happily with Sambar Deer. These are all accomodated in typical zoo ungulate paddocks, some of them viewed from an elevated walkway. There was also a male Pygmy Hippo.
There are two banks of glass fronted and planted cages accommodating Clouded Leopards, Golden Cats, Leopard Cats, Binturongs, Palm Civets and a very impressive looking Yellow Throated Marten, the first I'd ever seen.
Big cats were housed in open-topped and planted cages of adequate size. These were a pair of Lions, a pair of white Lions, a pair of white Tigers and three Indochinese Tigers (P.t.corbetti) which were individually housed.
The Elephant herd consisted of four cows and, in an adjoining enclosure, a large bull. The enclosure for the cows was of adequate size but that of the bull was small. Separating them from the public was a half-moat and a "hot" wire. A vendor at the front of the enclosure was selling short lengths of sugar cane to the public to feed the Elephants, with the unfortunate result that the animals spent all day lined up with their trunks out, begging.
It was with the primates that the zoo really disappointed me. The most intelligent of animals, the apes, were in the worst accommodation in the zoo. Chimps, an Orang-utan and a couple of Gibbons (White-handed) were living in small, concrete and heavily barred cages. Paradoxoically, other gibbons were living on large moated and heavily planted islands with plenty of room and natural conditions. The zoo supposedly has Douc Langurs, but I could not find them. The only other primates I could find were macaques.
The reptile house was not too bad - a typical zoo reptile set-up, with the advantage that, being in a tropical area, no artificial heating was required.
I was interested to learn that the zoo has no venomous snakes, only Pythons (Burmese and Reticulateds.) Most of the reptiles were native to Vietnam - monitors, water dragons, tortoises etc. There were however a few large South American Green Iguanas. A large number of Crocodiles (Salties and Siamese) were on display in outdoor yards and pools which could be viewed from an elevated walkway.
The bird collection was also a paradox - lots of large species (Lesser Adjutants, Spot-billed Pelicans, Greater Flamingos, Purple Waterhens, Vultures, Peafowl, Pheasants , Macaws, Greater Hornbills, Cockatoos, Eclectus Parrots etc.) but, apart from a colony of African Masked Lovebirds, no small birds. I had seen lots of passerine and other small birds locally, outside houses and shops (most of them housed individually in appallingly tiny cages) but the zoo had none that I could locate. The birds that they DID have were accommodated in good sized and modern aviaries.
The overall problem is probably the same as all zoos experience - sufficient money to fun the place day-to-day but shortage of funds for capital improvements. Although the zoo is less than satisfactory in some respects, it was obvious even to a layman like myself that someone did care about the place and knew what they were doing. Enclosures were clean and water containers were well scrubbed. There seemed to be an adequate number of staff.
Public attendance was not excessive. Staff at my hotel admitted that they had never been to the zoo, assuring me that most Vietnamese people, if they thought of wild animals at all, thought of them in terms of edibility!
Admission charge for an adult was the equivalent of 40 cents U.S. (By comparison admission to my local zoo here in Sydney is in excess of $40!)
Saigon Zoo is an interesting place to visit, so if you ever get the chance..........
I had heard conflicting reports of it, ranging from good to abysmal. I'm therefore happy to say that, apart from one or two less than adequate features, it is not too bad at all.
For a start, it has a great setting, being located in the Saigon Botanical Gardens among magnificent tropical trees. It is well spread out - there's plenty of room, and enclosures are not butted up against each other. And it has all the classic animals which are expected of a mainstream zoo - apes, big cats and the "big four"; elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes.
Ungulates also include herds of Greater Kudu, Gemsbok, lots of (Asiatic) deer, such as Sambar, Axis and Muntjacs. There are a few individuals too; a Blesbok in with the Kudus and a solitary Wildebeest living, apparently quite happily with Sambar Deer. These are all accomodated in typical zoo ungulate paddocks, some of them viewed from an elevated walkway. There was also a male Pygmy Hippo.
There are two banks of glass fronted and planted cages accommodating Clouded Leopards, Golden Cats, Leopard Cats, Binturongs, Palm Civets and a very impressive looking Yellow Throated Marten, the first I'd ever seen.
Big cats were housed in open-topped and planted cages of adequate size. These were a pair of Lions, a pair of white Lions, a pair of white Tigers and three Indochinese Tigers (P.t.corbetti) which were individually housed.
The Elephant herd consisted of four cows and, in an adjoining enclosure, a large bull. The enclosure for the cows was of adequate size but that of the bull was small. Separating them from the public was a half-moat and a "hot" wire. A vendor at the front of the enclosure was selling short lengths of sugar cane to the public to feed the Elephants, with the unfortunate result that the animals spent all day lined up with their trunks out, begging.
It was with the primates that the zoo really disappointed me. The most intelligent of animals, the apes, were in the worst accommodation in the zoo. Chimps, an Orang-utan and a couple of Gibbons (White-handed) were living in small, concrete and heavily barred cages. Paradoxoically, other gibbons were living on large moated and heavily planted islands with plenty of room and natural conditions. The zoo supposedly has Douc Langurs, but I could not find them. The only other primates I could find were macaques.
The reptile house was not too bad - a typical zoo reptile set-up, with the advantage that, being in a tropical area, no artificial heating was required.
I was interested to learn that the zoo has no venomous snakes, only Pythons (Burmese and Reticulateds.) Most of the reptiles were native to Vietnam - monitors, water dragons, tortoises etc. There were however a few large South American Green Iguanas. A large number of Crocodiles (Salties and Siamese) were on display in outdoor yards and pools which could be viewed from an elevated walkway.
The bird collection was also a paradox - lots of large species (Lesser Adjutants, Spot-billed Pelicans, Greater Flamingos, Purple Waterhens, Vultures, Peafowl, Pheasants , Macaws, Greater Hornbills, Cockatoos, Eclectus Parrots etc.) but, apart from a colony of African Masked Lovebirds, no small birds. I had seen lots of passerine and other small birds locally, outside houses and shops (most of them housed individually in appallingly tiny cages) but the zoo had none that I could locate. The birds that they DID have were accommodated in good sized and modern aviaries.
The overall problem is probably the same as all zoos experience - sufficient money to fun the place day-to-day but shortage of funds for capital improvements. Although the zoo is less than satisfactory in some respects, it was obvious even to a layman like myself that someone did care about the place and knew what they were doing. Enclosures were clean and water containers were well scrubbed. There seemed to be an adequate number of staff.
Public attendance was not excessive. Staff at my hotel admitted that they had never been to the zoo, assuring me that most Vietnamese people, if they thought of wild animals at all, thought of them in terms of edibility!
Admission charge for an adult was the equivalent of 40 cents U.S. (By comparison admission to my local zoo here in Sydney is in excess of $40!)
Saigon Zoo is an interesting place to visit, so if you ever get the chance..........
