suffering at the zoo

Kunming Zoo, Yunnan province, China
June, 2007

This summer I visited the Kunming zoo as a patron with 3 children (I was their au pair). This is a summary of my experience.

It was a large and beautifully landscaped park in the middle of a hot, polluted and busy city. The grounds covered more than 2 square miles. There was a large variety of native and exotic animals, each and every one in a cage or corral much too small to be even remotely humane. All cages had concrete, brick or dirt grounds, except for 4 primate cages, which had grass. All large primates were confined to concrete-floored, iron barred cages an estimated size of 9’ x 7’. None had free access to water or food. Most had only one horizontal metal bar to hang from in an otherwise empty cage. Most disturbing was the single Chimpanzee with horrible hemorrhaging and inflammation of the anus and rear end. The animal was obviously in extreme pain. It lay on the floor hardly able to move, curled like a baby in fetal position, cradling itself. I watched the chimp for a long time and saw that it could not defecate properly, rather it tried to squeeze the liquid feces dripping out of its anus.
None of the animal cages or corrals had a source of living foliage except the small giraffe corral, which imprisoned at least 3 adult giraffes. It had a grass floor, but only a few trees surrounded by wire fencing. If there was a source of water in any of the animal’s cages it was in every case filthy, and shallow. The bears paced around their feces covered cages. One walked around licking watery stool from the concrete floor. As I continued to observe every last corner of the zoo I came across what looked to be “extra” animals with chain collars around their necks, stuffed into tiny holding pens out of sight to most visitors. Included were bears, lions, tigers and an adult elephant. Its leg was chained even though the pen wasn’t big enough for the elephant to turn around. All these animals looked weak and tired, worn out and hopeless. I saw what seemed to be live-in attendants sitting and relaxing, bored, all around the zoo quarters. I didn’t witness any people cleaning cages or caring for the animals. Finally as I walked back towards the entrance, I walked down the steps of a show corral and heard a noise coming from inside an arena. A lone baby elephant paced back and forth in its tiny cage. It desperately reached its trunk outside the cage looking for something as it trumpeted quiet cries of despair.
I cannot understand why in this spacious and beautiful park no one has made adequate living space for any of the animals. It looks as if the zoo was built in 1900 and has made no improvements since. All of the animals, including birds are barely surviving with the bare minimum of necessities when there are simple improvements that can easily be made, such as expanding living space and reducing unnecessary park space.
Please help these animals, Every moment is time wasted while thousands of animals needlessly suffer. Please sign the petition and get everyone you know to sign it too!

Marina, De Leon
San Francisco, Ca USA --
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/480767035