Today I visited Phuket Zoo. Online you can find many instances of people labelling the zoo as being horrible and cruel and demanding the zoos closure. Recently however I had read that the zoo had passed an inspection for animal cruelty, and when I arrived at the zoo I saw the roof of a medium sized well planted aviary, so I had high hopes that the zoo had improved. I was in a for a shock. Species List: Mammals: Asian Elephant Tiger Fallow Deer Orangutan Pig Tailed Macque Red Deer Goat Horse Sun Bear (I didn’t see these, so I can’t guarantee there actually there) Porcupine (not sure of species) Otters (not sure of species) Squirrel (not sure of species) Birds: Great Hornbill Pied Hornbill Red Billed Magpie Chicken Black Swan Budgie White Bellied Sea Eagle Ostrich Nicobar Pigeon Red Whiskered Bulbul Black Vented Bulbul Purple Swamphen Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Alexandrine Parrot Pied Imperial Pigeon Asian Koel Moustached Parakeet Indian Peafowl Blue and Gold Macaw Orange Breasted Green Pigeon Hill Mynah Eurasian Jay Sun Conure Pale Capped Pigeon Grey Crowned Crane Lovebird (not sure of species) Laughing Thrush (not sure of species) Owl (not sure of species) Eagle (not sure of species) Hornbill (not sure of species) This other very large bird that is yet to be identified Reptiles: Burmese Python Asian Water Monitor Green Iguana Saltwater Crocodile Tortoises (not sure of species) Fish: Tilapia Alligator Gar Giant Gourami There were also some other species that I can’t identify, I will post photos of these species in the gallery for identification. There’s no real layout to the zoo. Enclosures and cages are just scattered everywhere. I’m not going to do a walk through as that would be way to confusing to read due to the insane layout. I also know for a fact that I missed some species because some of my family with me later told me they saw some bears which I completely missed. When we first entered the zoo a Thai man immediately approached us and told us to follow him. He lead us along a path lined with chickens that had baskets over them. He then lead us into an area with three tigers. Two of the tigers were in cages smaller than your average bathroom, while one the tigers was sprawled out over the floor and was chained to a post. The man grabbed my youngest cousins hand and led her to the tiger and told her to sit down and hold the tigers tail. The man then aggressively lifted the tigers head up with a stick so that it would face the camera. Considering the fact that this tiger just let a man pull its head up with a stick and the tiger didn’t even flinch or react the tiger was most probably drugged. After realising what was happening and how horrible it was we swiftly left this area despite the protests of the man. Several of the enclosures and aviaries throughout the park are abandoned and are filled with rubbish. Many of these enclosures are still signed but are obviously empty. It appears the zoo has tried to reduce the number of empty aviaries by filling them with chickens and Indian Peafowl. Even some of the aviaries with pigeons and the like are filled with chickens. There were two elephants at the zoo. There enclosure consisted of a concerted rectangle encased by metal fencing. Both elephants were chained to a post. One of the elephants was swinging its head from side to side, a symptom of zoochosis. Many of the species had multiple enclosures. There were around 20 great hornbills spread around the zoo in different enclosures. Some were kept in very large aviaries while others where kept in aviaries no bigger than your average backyard budgie aviary. Red Billed magpies, pied hornbills, grey crowned cranes and porcupines also has enclosures spread throughout the zoo. There were several very odd aviaries that were very narrow but very tall. One of these had a nicobar pigeon while another had a pair of red Billed magpies. These aviaries were completely unsuitable for these species as the only way they could fly was up flying upwards at a diagonal angle before hitting the cage and then flying diagonally upwards the other way. There were four pig tailed macaque enclosures, all in a row. They were tiny and the only thing in the cage was a small platform made out of wooden planks for the monkeys to sit on. The enclosures were tiny and the monkeys had no shade. The only orangutan I saw at the zoo was a young individual. It didn’t even have an enclosure, it was sitting on a bench beside several staff members under a shelter in the zoo. The orangutan was unfortunately forced to wear human pants. Probably the worst thing about the zoo in general was the complete lack of clean water, or lack of water at all. I didn’t see any clean drinking water, all of the water was either green or fall of sludge and debris. The otter pond was completely empty. Food was also scarce and I only saw three animals with food, the tortoises, the red deer and a cat and her kittens that were living amongst the rubbish in one of the empty aviaries. In the middle of the zoo was a lake, which had several islands connected to the rest of the zoo by bridges. On these islands were the enclosures for goats and horses, fallow deer and ostrich. The lone male ostrich had rubbed the front of his legs raw on the fence that encased his enclosure. All the fallow deer and red deer were white. This large lake was very dirty and filled with rubbish. The water level had also dropped significantly. Giant gourami inhabited the lake as well as a free ranging pair of of black Swan. The enclosures in the zoo that were suitable were the tilapia pond, giant gourami and tilapia pond, alligator gar tank, lovebird and budgie aviary, fallow deer enclosure, red deer enclosure, alexandrine parrot and moustached parrot aviary and the large aviary I had seen when I approached the zoo. This aviary was very large and had a large pond with clean water and a water fall. The only habitants this very large aviary were some Indian mynahs, spotted doves, half a dozen purple swamp hens and a single male Indian Peafowl. One of the most frustrating things about this whole situation is many of the birds could be placed in this large aviary instead of there current aviaries. ————————————————— Final Thoughts There is no doubt about the fact that Phuket Zoo is a horrible zoo that needs to change as soon as possible. There has been much lobbying by people to close the zoo and I think everyone is starting to get the message, as when we visited there were less than four families in the zoo. The number of animals at the zoo seems to have dropped significantly, as there were many empty enclosures. The price is also ridiculous as it is over $70 aud. I think the way the zoo is going it might close soon, but I don’t know if that is necessarily a good thing is it would probably mean the end for many of the animals there. Hopefully the zoo is shut down by the Thai government and the animals kept there distributed amongst reputable zoos were they can live out there days comfortably and free from abuse.
I've made some identifications on your photos, as follows below (in italics): Species List: Mammals: Asian Elephant Tiger Fallow Deer Orangutan Pig Tailed Macque Red Deer Goat Horse Sun Bear (I didn’t see these, so I can’t guarantee there actually there) Porcupine (not sure of species) - Malayan Crested Porcupines Otters (not sure of species) - Asian Small-clawed Otters Squirrel (not sure of species) - Black Giant Squirrel Birds: Great Hornbill Pied Hornbill Red Billed Magpie Chicken Black Swan Budgie White Bellied Sea Eagle Ostrich Nicobar Pigeon Red Whiskered Bulbul Black Vented Bulbul - this wasn't one of the photos, but do you mean Black-headed or Yellow-vented (or Red-vented)? Purple Swamphen Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Alexandrine Parrot Pied Imperial Pigeon Asian Koel Moustached Parakeet Indian Peafowl Blue and Gold Macaw Orange Breasted Green Pigeon - this is Pink-necked Green Pigeon Hill Mynah Eurasian Jay Sun Conure Pale Capped Pigeon Grey Crowned Crane Lovebird (not sure of species) - I think Masked Lovebird from the photo Laughing Thrush (not sure of species) - photo? Owl (not sure of species) - Barred Eagle Owl and Spotted Wood Owl in the photos Eagle (not sure of species) - photo? Hornbill (not sure of species) - Wreathed Hornbill This other very large bird that is yet to be identified - is this the curassow? I think it's a Great Curassow, which is the species "most common" (i.e. still not often seen) in Asian zoos I've visited Reptiles: Burmese Python Asian Water Monitor Green Iguana Saltwater Crocodile Tortoises (not sure of species) - I'm no good with tortoises... Fish: Tilapia Alligator Gar Giant Gourami
To avoid any misunderstandings: Even I appreciate that you wrote this review, I absolutely don't like the conditions at Phuket zoo so that's why I didn't klick the "Like" function. (And I presume @Chlidonias means the same)
Yes, I appreciate people writing reviews and species lists, especially of zoos which few other members will get to visit. "Liking" a review does not signify liking the conditions in any particular collection. (In the opposite direction, I don't "like" photos showing bad conditions because that gives entirely the wrong impression of the intent behind the "like").
Thanks Chlidonias. The bulbul I saw was the black-naped bulbul, black vented bulbul was a typo. Your correct that the bird in the photo was a Eurasian Jay. I mixed up my photos. I have no photo of the bird labeled as laughing Thrush so maybe I just imagined it? I’ve also deleted the photo in the gallery considering the fact I have a much better photo of the Eurasian Jay already in the gallery.
Here is the finished species list. Thank you to @ThylacineAlive and @Chlidonias for help with identifying various species. Mammals: Asian Elephant Tiger Fallow Deer Orangutan Red Deer Goat Horse Malayan Crested Porcupine Asian Small Clawed Otter Giant Black Squirrel Sun Bear Pig Tailed Macaque Birds: Great Hornbill Pied Hornbill Wreathed Hornbill Red Billed Magpie Chicken Black Swan Budgie White Bellied Sea Eagle Brahminy Kite Ostrich Nicobar Pigeon Red Whiskered Bulbul Black Vented Oriole Masked Lovebird Eurasian Jay Great Currasow Purple Swamphen Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Alexandrine Parrot Pied Imperial Pigeon Asian Koel Moustached Parakeet Indian Peafowl Blue and Gold Macaw Pink Necked Green Pigeon Hill Mynah Eurasian Jay Sun Conure Pale Capped Pigeon Grey Crowned Crane Barred Eagle Owl Spotted Wood Owl Reptiles: Burmese Python Elongated Tortoise Saltwater Crocodile Green Iguana Fish: Tilapia Giant Gourami Alligator Gar
Relocating animals from the bankrupt zoo : Phuket Zoo rescue: Tigers, bears, monkeys pack their bags for new home (Photos) | Coconuts
