Animal Welfare Required - Thonburi Snake Farm
Standard monkey cage. Nothing to keep him amused at all.
Two black bears in tiny enclosure full of concrete.
Raw marks on the little monkey as he puts his hand through the cage to get food that the punters buy for 20 baht.
Holes in the cage.
Standard snake enclosure before they are thrown around on a stage with 100 baht notes the ring announcer basically threatens you to give tips to at the end of the show. Got a very large "combine sex and travel" from myself.
Soft shell turtle in basically a tub smaller than a standard bath.
Yum yum
Fine bird in cage with concrete and nothing else
Black bear sits and waits for his nuts bought from dodgy Indian vendor who places them in your hand for you to feed the bear then tries to charge you 20 baht. He received a "combine sex with travel" from myself when I realised what he was up to.
Fine tiger beast.
Readers of this blog will know that instead of visiting shit boring museums, churches and places of no significance in my life because you can read about them in books and on the net, when travelling with a spare day I visit zoos. I like them because most exist for the purpose of educating everyone about animals. And often it is the only chance most of us will ever get to see most animals. Because of the often reasonably exotic nature of the countries I travel to, I also get to see some pretty great zoos.
Today while in Bangkok however I had probably the worst travel experience of my zoo-visiting life at the Thonburi Snake Farm.
No tree-hugging animal activist even I was in two minds whether to go buy some bolt cutters and free the animals from the misery of this place which typifies perfectly why those born into abject poverty should NEVER be able to own exotic animals. I am against poor people owning any sort of animal, if they cannot afford to look after themselves then what kind of stupid society lets them own animals?
The answer to the problem of endangered animals is to let people rich enough everywhere to be licensed to farm them. For example, who wouldn't want to own a tiger if they had a farm large enough to have one on? Tigers are very cool. Way cooler than a horse. Who wouldn't want a large turtle if they had a water feature large enough, or a snake?
The snake farm contains some of the most beautiful beasts of mother nature. Tucked away in the corner is even a Bengal Tiger, the other corner two black bears. Various monkeys, birds, turtles and even deer. Well deer in an enclosure the size of a NZ backyard.
The photos on my Blackberry will never do this place justice for how much a disgrace it is. I don't care about Thailand's animal rights laws (which appear non-existent). The zoo should be closed and the animals relocated to lusher pastures.
If poverty is the reason this place cannot clean up its act then the answer is easy, take the animals and send them to wealthier countries who look after animals better. At Thonburi even cats and dogs were treated better than the animals in the cages, as strays walked freely around no doubt with all kinds of diseases. Watching a cat stare down the bird cage was a particular highlight. Not.
Compare it to say the Steve Irwin Zoo where all the staff are proud of the zoo, love their work and the animals and it is more of a disgrace. No grass, no trees and with Bangkok's searing heat, very little shade or fresh water. The food seems to be stripped out of the cages so farangs can buy 20 baht of animal feed to give to these animals, many seem bored out of their minds and wilting in the heat.
I am not in favour of boycotting this zoo, I think the more people who visit Bangkok and go and see it the better. Then those people can write about it on searchable sites such as blogs and to animal welfare agencies.
I guess they won't do anything about it as namby pamby as they are "poor" countries have different standards of acceptable treatment of animals than wealthier nations.
Shame that unlike humans, animals don't get a choice.
Today while in Bangkok however I had probably the worst travel experience of my zoo-visiting life at the Thonburi Snake Farm.
No tree-hugging animal activist even I was in two minds whether to go buy some bolt cutters and free the animals from the misery of this place which typifies perfectly why those born into abject poverty should NEVER be able to own exotic animals. I am against poor people owning any sort of animal, if they cannot afford to look after themselves then what kind of stupid society lets them own animals?
The answer to the problem of endangered animals is to let people rich enough everywhere to be licensed to farm them. For example, who wouldn't want to own a tiger if they had a farm large enough to have one on? Tigers are very cool. Way cooler than a horse. Who wouldn't want a large turtle if they had a water feature large enough, or a snake?
The snake farm contains some of the most beautiful beasts of mother nature. Tucked away in the corner is even a Bengal Tiger, the other corner two black bears. Various monkeys, birds, turtles and even deer. Well deer in an enclosure the size of a NZ backyard.
The photos on my Blackberry will never do this place justice for how much a disgrace it is. I don't care about Thailand's animal rights laws (which appear non-existent). The zoo should be closed and the animals relocated to lusher pastures.
If poverty is the reason this place cannot clean up its act then the answer is easy, take the animals and send them to wealthier countries who look after animals better. At Thonburi even cats and dogs were treated better than the animals in the cages, as strays walked freely around no doubt with all kinds of diseases. Watching a cat stare down the bird cage was a particular highlight. Not.
Compare it to say the Steve Irwin Zoo where all the staff are proud of the zoo, love their work and the animals and it is more of a disgrace. No grass, no trees and with Bangkok's searing heat, very little shade or fresh water. The food seems to be stripped out of the cages so farangs can buy 20 baht of animal feed to give to these animals, many seem bored out of their minds and wilting in the heat.
I am not in favour of boycotting this zoo, I think the more people who visit Bangkok and go and see it the better. Then those people can write about it on searchable sites such as blogs and to animal welfare agencies.
I guess they won't do anything about it as namby pamby as they are "poor" countries have different standards of acceptable treatment of animals than wealthier nations.
Shame that unlike humans, animals don't get a choice.
posted by Cactus Kate at 1:56 AM
9 Comments:
Disgusting.
It makes the barred cages of Wellington Zoo, circa.1965, seem like paradise.
That is so sad :( Could you report it to WSPA or some kind of international animal protection agency?
:-( my wife and I saw the same farm while we were in Thailand earlier in the year and had exactly the same thoughts and feelings.
On the other side of the fence though was the Tiger Temple north of Bangkok (quite a drive). The Monks at the tiger temple have created an amazing refuge for many different types of animals and back packers are encouraged to stay and learn advanced meditation in exchange for helping with the facilities and translation services. Truly a stark contrast to the depressing snake farm.
Great post Cactus. Can't disagree with a single thing you've said.
Jesus fucking Christ that's grim. I don't really give a fuck about animals, not that I'm into cruelty, but that's fucking grim. Unfortunately I think you're right about cultural relativism in this case too. Pig farms get the tears & the celebs & the wallets out here.
On this post, Cactus, we have total agreement. I can't stand animal cruelty. There's nothing I can really say in the face of such a post, other than shame on them.
(I don't go to zoos, I think they're all dreadful).
The bear pit at the one of the The Great Wall entrances near Beijing was foul as well. We gave the bear 'minder' (and shitty bear food seller) a good 'serve', along with an action charade of how he should be in the pit rather than the bears. The bear pit seemed so out of context with the whole Great Wall visit experience.
At least the Chinese don't bash their kids to death...
Kevin
When you come from a culture where you can only have one child there is more worth placed in a child's life.
Perhaps that's the answer in NZ.
And then if you go across to the Bangkok Dusit Zoo, you can see elephants chained up, you can hose them with water to relieve their suffering, and you will see Andean condors who soar for hundreds of miles in small enclosures
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