Lion in filthy moat

Photo taken on 18th August 2009.

WOW, the lenghts to which the Egyptians are prepared to go to enrich the lives of their zoo animals...

Just look! No efforts are spared! They through coke cans and plastic bottles and God knows what...

Egypt is a soccer-crazy country and I see that this lion has a yellow and red ball along the left-hand side of this photo so maybe that is the Egyptian form of enrichment. It is quite startling to see such garbage in an African zoo, as I thought that was reserved for menageries on other continents.

According to Wikipedia the city of Alexandria has over 4 million people and only Cairo is larger within Egypt, and it is a tourist resort city with many visitors for its beautiful beaches. Some of those folks must tour the local zoo and be aghast at what they see, but on the other hand perhaps most people don't give a damn and instead compete to see who can smack a lion on its head with a pop can. I wonder if the keepers are able to lock the lions in a side enclosure or den while they clean the main area? It looks like this enclosure has not been cleaned out in years!

oh dear! how many more Lions were in the exhibit?

Actually, dragon(ele)nerd, in this particular comment on the Alexandria Zoo, I was mostly focusing on how the visitors apparently behave themselves. Though - as I remarked in another comment - I will refrain from commenting on it in any way other than my half-hearted attempt at sarcasm in this partcular thread. (Political correctness rules... right?).

But as for the size and layout of the outdoor lion enclosure in this horrible zoo, I actually find it better than most of the atrocities that forumster Nayer has documented.

Litter is a very big problem in Egypt, and in the zoo especially; people just think they can drop their rubbish anywhere, though in this case, some of the items must have been dropped accidentally. The moat is only very dirty in certain patches, which clearly are more interesting for the lions.
Until recently, the zookeepers would put a lot of effort into making sure that the lions didn't access the dirty moat, but it looks like they've just given up now.
The enclosure is attached to the lion house, so I think the lions take it in turns to go outside.
There are far too many lions at the zoo (~20+) but they are only allowed out in small groups (of about three to four individuals) at any time.

It's not good very sad to see this

This is truly a disgrace to any living organism! To be living like that! Why does no one do something to shut this place down?

Unfortunately the moat is still pretty dirty, but the rest of the enclosure is in reasonable condition. This photo only shows a tiny section of the moat, and as I mentioned above, the lions were previously not allowed down to the moat at all. To make this enclosure of at least an 'acceptable' standard, I think that a decent cleaning and gardening job, combined with regular maintenance and a decrease in the number of lions are in order. But that's a very big request.

I've outlined my thoughts regarding your question on another thread.

Please dont tell me that is the Enclosure ???

GB