Meerkats, raccoons, foxes, an owl: Bangkok’s animal cafes bring the zoo to you

The waffle with egg and bacon looks appetising, but no one at the table really cares.

There’s a bit of mischief going on at another table in the small eatery that demands more attention. Cookie has clambered onto a young Thai woman’s shoulders and is tugging away at one of her dangling earrings with intense curiosity. The woman doubles over and giggles happily, forgetting all about her vanilla and chocolate sundae.

Cookie is a young raccoon, a dashing little chap with winsome features and his species’ trademark black patches around the eyes. “He’s so cute!” the woman coos.

“Cookie is very outgoing and loves attention,” notes the owner of Little Zoo Cafe, Wachiraporn Arampibulphol. Her space is a two-storey “pet café” on the outskirts of Bangkok, and contains numerous wild creatures from around the world.

Wachiraporn’s private menagerie has raccoons and prairie dogs from North America; chinchillas and marmosets from South America; meerkats, serval cats and caracal cats from Africa. She also has more than a dozen foxes: North African fennec foxes, European red foxes, Russian silver foxes. There’s also a hairless guinea pig, a fluffy-tailed corgi, a Pomeranian, a cockatiel and a snowy owl.