The most disgusting place in the world... four giraffe in an enclosure no bigger than an average family room, spider monkeys in tiny tiny cages 8 yes 8 pygmy hippos in appauling conditions, 4 asian elephants, 3 african elephants, chained all day ad night under a tin shelter, i'll have more on this place as my stay continues
i've been there before jarkari. they were planning a massive new elephant exhibit on my last visit. that was a couple of years ago now so i expected it to be finished. the zoo was actually once world famous and whilst i was definately concerned over some of the animals welfare, i believed that with just a little work, could actually live up to its old title of one of asias best zoos.... certainly to me it was not the most disgusting place in the world. unfortunately i've been to the saigon zoo......
Sadly there are many many horror stories in Asian zoos.. Indeed like what patrick said, Sri Lanka's national zoo was once a great instituition, unfortunately with the retirement of its former director Lyn de Alwis, it has slipped into a terrible state. de Alwis was actively involved in the growth of the Singapore Zoo in the 80s , a proponent of the open concept exhibitry style and was one of the individuals who dreamt up the Night Safari idea. Many Asian countries are struggling with poverty and many zoos are vestiges of colonial menageries which have miraculously survived the decades.
Can you believe it! The Yokohama Zoo is about to give the Colombo Zoo 2 highly endangered Eastern black rhino in exchange for elephants. Please feel free to contact them and urge them to reconsider. The Sri Lanka Zoo needs massive investment. I do not know whether they are member of the South Asia Zoo Outreach Group (India, Nepal, Pakistan). The latter is a proponent for modern zoo exhibitry and coordinated breeding programmes.
It's a shame that these places are called zoos. This is what anti zoo protesters call upon and quite rightly too. First class zoos like Melbourne Singapore etc get lumped in with them.
from memory the colombo zoo is in direct association with the elephant orphanage in kandy, and the elephants at the zoo come from there (with the exception of the two gorgeous africans that i saw when i was there). the orphange ain't ideal either, but it does allow for the animals to live in a massive multigenerational herd of 60+ in an open-range type environment. the elephants due for OS could just as easilyt be dircetly from the sanctuary, and even if they are some of the younger animals at the zoo, they will quickly be replaced with more orphange animals. in this respect the yokohama zoo (japan?) connot claim the elephants are better off being out of the colombo zoo, since as soon as they go they will just be replaced anyway....
The zoo has the potentila to be vry good... just that it has too many animals in a very small space... so it could be a great zoo with further investment and work, unfortunatley at the moment the government is focussing on increasing numbers of men with assualt rifles over the animals... i am working just up the road from the pinnawala orphanage which is apparently turning into more of a commercial breeding centre to attract tourists... there have been a few issues regarding them not releasing elephant calves to the wild and they are running out of space.... I am trying to get a hold of the governments head zoologist and see if there is anyinterest in relocating these guys to zoos and sanctuaries... a long hard process, but maybe worthwhile.. I will be taking loads of photos at pinnawala ele orphanage and will email them if anyone is interested on my return,
Tuskers in Sri Lanka Hmm sorry Guys, took me a while to get back to you on this one... From memory the blind tusker was there. but i could be a little confused. The most amazing elephant I saw however was the three legged on. had one leg blown off by a mine. managed to walk fairly well.... While I was there I worked with a gorgeous Tusker, but a few weeks in he came into musth and tried to destroy the owners kitchen... so I was forced to work with a few of the cows. he was a beautiful bull, very big, not as big as the other two on the site, another one of which was also in musth but the one I was working with, Raja, was the only tusker... quite a site to see his mahout riding him out of the river. Got loads of pictures of the elephants at Millenium Elephant Foundation, will post them if anybody is interested.
yes that three-legged cow certainly still manages to get around, albeit with a very unusual gait. poor girl. i imagine that as she gets older (and heavier) arthritis or some similar condition as a result of taking all that weight on one front leg could be a problem. i would love to see her get some sort of prosthetic limb like that elephant that also stood on a landmine (in burma?)... i remember the breeding bull when i was there was a massive animal, with no tusks however. i thought i remember there being a few other smaller bulls with short tusks though and of course the big old blind guy i mentioned earlier. with no problems breeding elephants and a 60+ strong heard i wouldn't be supprised if pinnawala "orphanage" will become a guise for a breeding centre for captive elephants for export to zoos.
I spoke to the head of Sri Lanka National Zoo and he informed me they they intend turning pinnawella into, or adding to it a large safari area, he didn't go into too much detail but he did speak of huge plans for the elephants they breed there. i also believe it would take a very nice "donation" for them to send elephants out of the country. Sri Lanka is a great place to view wild elephants in one safari trip we saw a tusker, two other bulls and were charged by three different cows, coming within 3 feet of the jeep and camera lens... one of them even had a 1 month old calf hiding in it's legs, unfortunately I was unable to get photos of this little fella as they were only a couple of metres away from us and my camera may have set off the protective cows. Amazing experience though, that everyone should have.
This is great news the Sri Lankan species is a beautiful resemblence of an elephant, I also I agree on the topic of Asian zoos many are very old fashion, which is a same because they keep many of their native animals yet they put them in Facilities that don't suit well to them at all, I find that one of the only Stunning zoos in Asia is Singapore, I hope you had a great time at Sri Lanka, I would and I quite sure were honured to work with such a beautiful and famous bull such as Raja,
I'm sure this report is talking about one of the pygmy hippos, but describes them as grand hippopotamus. Sri Lanka News | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers Sounds ghastly!
A male orang utan has been born at the zoo, the first in 28 years, from a pair presented to the people of Sri Lanka from the Indonesian government in 2003, so i presume they are a pure subspecies, but which one? Sri Lanka : Baby Orangutan born in Sri Lanka Zoo ready for public from tomorrow
I have found many articles stating two different locations for the arrival of two elephants from Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary in India. Do you know where Rahul and Devi now reside in Japan - Yokohama Zoo (Zoorasia) or the Okinawa Zoo? Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.
they are at Kodomo-no-Kumi zoo in Okinawa. The only original sources I found saying they went to Yokohama were from Indian newspaper articles at the time the elephants left India (which could be explained as incorrect information released to the press; the elephants going to Okinawa via Yokohama; or simply a change in plan); all other sources saying they are at Yokohama derive from the information on Elephants Encyclopedia - facts and information about elephants since 1995 and even that site couldn't be consistent with itself! All reputable sources (including zoo ones) say the two elephants are at Okinawa. Hope that helps.
