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Melaka Zoo return to Melaka Zoo, April 2014

Discussion in 'Malaysia' started by Chlidonias, 30 Apr 2014.

  1. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    What a depressing zoo visit I have had today. I have been to zoos which are depressing because they are just plain bad, but even worse is a zoo which you have seen at its peak now reduced to a shabby mess. I last visited Melaka Zoo just under three years ago in 2011 and it really was one of the best zoos in Asia. Now it is a shambles of empty and abandoned cages. Half the zoo is bereft of inhabitants and there are almost no mammals left smaller than a serow. I spent only an hour and 45 minutes there and I was done.

    The reason is a bit of a scandal of a directorship changeover when most of the animals “mysteriously” disappeared. See here: http://www.zoochat.com/249/melaka-zoo-privatised-299786/

    Devilfish visited not too long after this and the following is what he wrote in May 2013 on his thread http://www.zoochat.com/19/devilfishs-asian-adventure-308174/index4.html



    I had been hoping that a year later it might have picked up again, but if anything I think it has sunk even lower. There was cage after cage sitting empty, neglected, with signs saying “under renovation”, “animals not on show today”, “work in progress”...... Following I shall quote some sections from my original review http://www.zoochat.com/249/visit-september-2011-a-246355/ to provide updates on what the situation is now for those animals and enclosures. At the end I shall re-post my original species lists from 2011 with modifications to show what is left.....


    This aviary was closed to visitors. Looking through the mesh it was in a real state of disrepair. The only animals I could see were three buffy fish owls. The glass-fronted cages were mostly empty, although there was a single white-fronted lemur in one and at least one ring-tailed lemur in the one behind.

    Still open to visitors but again in a sorry state. The only animals visible were two greater mouse deer, four common muntjacs, a demoiselle crane, a male red junglefowl, a female great argus, a blue crowned pigeon, a pied imperial pigeon, a green imperial pigeon, and some spot-necked doves.

    Pretty sad these ones. The waterbird side had just a few painted and yellow-billed storks, two grey herons, two purple herons, a black-crowned night heron and a blue peacock. The formerly bird-heavy passerine side had literally not a single passerine left! There were a lot of wild plantain squirrels in there though! The birds which were in there were green and blue peafowl, a female crestless fireback, a pair of crested firebacks, a female koel, some pied imperial pigeons, some Nicobar pigeons, an emerald dove, a blue crowned pigeon, some spot-necked doves and a mouse deer. The former bird of prey aviaries held a lone sarus crane, three white pelicans, and a lesser adjutant (the fourth aviary was empty).

    This one was an absolute tragedy. Locked up, almost bare of vegetation (formerly heavily-planted), and with only a pair of white-crowned hornbills and an Oriental pied hornbill inside (and, again, several wild plantain squirrels). So sad.

    Almost all these birds are gone. The two sets of “orange section” aviaries, where most of the birds were kept, are completely empty and roped off. The few other aviaries contain rhinoceros hornbill and a few parrots. No palm cockatoos, almost none of the formerly large hornbill and pheasant collections left.

    All three of these houses (grouped together in one spot) were empty and closed off. I snuck a look through the trees and in the Small Mammal House workers were busy demolishing all the inside partitions. I'm not sure if this is because they are opening up the house to make larger cages (definitely a good thing!) or if it is the first stage of demolishing them altogether (which would be even better really because they really sucked as animal housing!).

    The Taman Mini Safari was closed off, presumably due to lack of animals! The bamboo rat enclosure here has gone, but one individual was still on display in the glassed enclosure right at the zoo entrance (I think it held a small crocodile in 2011).

    Most of the hooved stock are still present in their original enclosures, but often in reduced numbers. Still lots of Ankole cattle, lechwe, barasingha and nilgai. The five ratite pens now housed an emu in the ostrich pen, another emu in the emu pen, the rhea pen was empty, and the two common cassowary pens still had one in each. The wolves were gone, but there were still two dholes. Most of the primates on the islands and nearby cages are still there, but mostly in fewer numbers; however the glass-fronted enclosures near the zoo entrance where the smaller species were held are all empty and roped off. The spider monkey island now had dusky langurs on it – and there was no sign of the wild dusky langurs which formerly lived in the zoo grounds (and the feeding stations for that wild troop appeared not to have been in use for quite a while).....

    Very reduced, now mostly red-eared sliders and Amboina box turtles.
     
  2. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    FULL SPECIES LIST FOR MELAKA ZOO FROM 2011 WITH ANNOTATIONS FOR 2014 (I HAVE ADDED THE WORD “GONE” TO ANY NO LONGER PRESENT AND EMBOLDED THE ONES STILL PRESENT FOR EASE OF COMPARISON)

    The list of what is or is not present is of course referring only to what is on show. Some of these species may still be held off-display (but that is irrelevant from the perspective of the visitor experience).

    There were a few species on display which I did not see on the 2011 visit, namely dusky langur (I suspect they simply caught the ones which used to live wild in the zoo), one lesser adjutant, black-crowned night heron, a couple of Moluccan cockatoos, a couple of African grey parrots, and a female Asian koel.


    Scientific names have only been included if there could be confusion.


    MAMMALS:

    Black giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor) – GONE
    Prevost's squirrel – GONE
    Malayan porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) (I SAW FIVE)
    Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus macrourus) – GONE
    Bamboo rat (Rhizomys sumatrensis) (ONE LEFT)
    Capybara (TWO LEFT)

    Slow loris – GONE
    Ring-tailed lemur (AT LEAST ONE LEFT)
    White-fronted lemur (ONE LEFT)
    Brown lemur – GONE
    Black and white ruffed lemur (ONE LEFT)
    Pigmy marmoset – GONE
    Common marmoset – GONE
    Squirrel monkey – GONE
    Black-capped capuchin
    Black spider monkey – GONE
    Banded leaf monkey (a single baby one) – GONE
    Pig-tailed macaque – GONE
    Crab-eating macaque (a single albino baby one) – GONE
    Stump-tailed macaque (TWO LEFT)
    Mandrill (THREE LEFT)
    Bornean gibbon (ONE LEFT)
    Agile gibbon – GONE
    White-handed gibbon (ONE LEFT)
    Siamang (ONE LEFT)
    Orangutan (which species not labelled) (TWO?)
    Common chimpanzee (ONLY ONE LEFT I THINK)

    [Dusky langur was new to the captive animals on this 2014 visit, but were formerly wild in the zoo]

    Island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) – GONE (I THINK)

    Red panda – GONE
    Common raccoon – GONE
    Binturong – GONE
    Masked palm civet – GONE
    Common palm civet – GONE
    Malayan civet (Viverra tangalunga) – GONE
    Domestic ferret – GONE
    Small-clawed otter (I SAW FIVE)
    Grey wolf – GONE
    Dhole (TWO LEFT)
    Sun bear (TWO LEFT)
    Bobcat – GONE
    Leopard cat – GONE
    Flat-headed cat – GONE
    Clouded leopard – GONE
    Leopard (I SAW ONE SPOTTED AND THREE BLACK)
    Malayan tiger (THREE ENCLOSURES, FOUR ANIMALS)
    African lion (ONE PAIR)

    Miniature horse
    regular-sized horse – GONE
    Przewalski's horse – GONE
    Common zebra – GONE
    White rhino (TWO)
    Malayan tapir (TWO)

    Giraffe (TWO PLUS A BABY, WHICH WAS GOOD TO SEE!)
    Southern serow (ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE)
    Malayan gaur (JUST ONE MALE LEFT)
    Banteng
    Ankole cattle
    Nilgai
    Nyala
    Red lechwe
    (on the zoo map labelled as Kafue Flats lechwe, on the enclosure as Red lechwe)
    Blue wildebeest (JUST TWO LEFT)
    Sambar
    Rusa
    Barasingha
    Axis deer
    Bawean hog deer
    Common muntjac

    Lesser mouse deer – GONE?
    Greater mouse deer

    [on the zoo leaflet map Camel was labelled, and on the signboard maps in the zoo grounds there were labels for Fallow deer and Scimitar-horned oryx, but none of these were apparent on my visit] – AND STILL NOT APPARENT ON THIS VISIT!!

    Asian elephant (THREE)


    BIRDS:

    Ostrich – GONE
    Common rhea – GONE
    Emu (TWO)
    Common cassowary (TWO)

    White pelican (THREE)

    Milky stork (I SAW ONE)
    Painted stork
    Yellow-billed stork


    [Lesser adjutant (ONE) was new for the 2014 visit]

    Demoiselle crane (I SAW ONE)
    Sarus crane (I SAW ONE)

    Grey heron
    Purple heron

    Cattle egret – GONE

    [Black-crowned night heron was new for the 2014 visit]

    African spoonbill – GONE

    Greater flamingo – GONE

    Purple gallinule – GONE
    White-breasted waterhen – GONE

    Green peafowl
    Blue peafowl
    Red junglefowl
    (ONE MALE)
    Great argus (ONE FEMALE)
    Malaysian peacock-pheasant – GONE
    Lady Amherst's pheasant – GONE
    Silver pheasant – GONE
    Crested fireback (ONE PAIR)
    Crestless fireback (ONE FEMALE)
    Crested wood partridge (Roulroul) – GONE

    Mute swan – GONE
    Chinese goose – GONE
    Mandarin duck – GONE
    Lesser whistling duck – GONE

    White-bellied sea eagle – GONE
    Changeable hawk-eagle – GONE
    Black eagle – GONE
    Crested serpent-eagle – GONE
    Brahminy kite – GONE
    Black-shouldered kite – GONE

    Green-winged macaw
    Scarlet macaw
    Blue and gold macaw

    Indian ringneck – GONE
    Lovebirds – GONE
    Cockatiel – GONE
    Palm cockatoo – GONE
    Greater sulphur-crested cockatoo
    Citron-crested cockatoo – GONE
    Goffin's cockatoo – GONE
    Blue-eyed cockatoo – GONE
    Ducorp's cockatoo
    Eclectus

    Yellow-streaked lory – GONE
    Black lory – GONE
    Red lory – GONE

    [Moluccan cockatoo
    African grey parrot -- both new to the zoo for the 2014 visit]

    Pied imperial pigeon
    Green imperial pigeon

    Mountain imperial pigeon – GONE
    Nicobar pigeon
    Jambu fruit dove – GONE
    Little green pigeon – GONE
    Large green pigeon – GONE
    Thick-billed green pigeon – GONE
    Pink-necked green pigeon – GONE
    Victoria crowned pigeon – GONE
    Blue crowned pigeon
    Spot-necked dove
    Emerald dove
    Zebra dove


    [Asian koel was new the zoo for the 2014 visit]

    Buffy fish owl
    Spotted wood owl – GONE
    Barred eagle owl – GONE

    Rhinoceros hornbill
    Great hornbill – GONE
    White-crowned hornbill
    Oriental pied hornbill

    Malayan black hornbill – GONE

    White-rumped shama – GONE
    Silver-eared mesia – GONE
    Stripe-throated bulbul – GONE
    Straw-headed bulbul – GONE
    Red-whiskered bulbul – GONE

    Black-naped oriole – GONE

    Brahminy starling – GONE
    Asian glossy starling – GONE
    Common mynah – GONE
    Jungle mynah – GONE
    Hill mynah
    Bali mynah – GONE

    Red bird of paradise – GONE
    Lesser bird of paradise – GONE
    Twelve-wired bird of paradise – GONE
    King bird of paradise – GONE



    REPTILES:

    Elephant-trunk snake (Acrochordus javanicus) – GONE
    Blood python – GONE
    albino Burmese python – GONE
    Reticulated python – GONE
    Anaconda – GONE

    Common iguana – GONE

    Burmese brown tortoise (Manouria emys)
    Painted turtle (Callagur borneoensis)
    Giant river turtle (Batagur baska)
    Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
    Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
    Red-eared terrapin (Trachemys scripta)

    [I'm not sure if all the turtle species were still present, but almost all the individuals were red-eared sliders and Amboina box turtles. I saw one brown tortoise and some Batagur (or Callagur, not sure which they were)]

    Spectacled caiman – GONE
    Estuarine crocodile
    False gharial
     
    Last edited: 1 May 2014
  3. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    I have the feeling that had one walked through the zoo with a shotgun picking off random animals in 2011, the overall loss to the collection would have possibly been *less* than the loss it has undergone since that date!
     
  4. Zooish

    Zooish Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That is really unfortunate... Melaka had a good collection and was actually in decent shape a few years back.
     
  5. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I've put some recent photos (mostly of animals) in the gallery Melaka Zoo Gallery (including the giraffe sign for David Brown as always).
     
  6. baboon

    baboon Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I find the tragedy of Melaka Zoo is so similar to many Chinese zoos: the more powerful department forced the zoo-related department to handle their directorship of the zoo, then privatized the zoo and stop all the state financial supply to the zoo, then large-scale animal death occurred in the zoo due to the poor management and short of finance, finally leave an empty zoo and a rich department officer. Fortunately the zoo-privatization trend is stopped in China now due to the large-scale protest and public angry from the whole country.
     
  7. devilfish

    devilfish Well-Known Member

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    Oh dear. I was really hoping it was going to improve. I'm surprised that the inhabitants of the small mammal houses have all disappeared though.