Tracing the history of Hong Kong’s controversial ‘zoo’

A government survey last year showed experts believed it was time to phase out animals and breeding programmes at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, the enclosures of which have courted controversy over the years.

One of the earliest mentions of a zoologi­cal garden in the South China Morning Post is from a January 1959 Urban Council meeting. With all major European cities boasting zoos, council member Hilton Cheong-leen said, “I believe it is the view of the over­whelm­ing majority of the public that Hongkong should have a public zoological garden.”

Although the Botanical Gardens, as they were called, already had a few animals, he added that “they can hardly be called a collection”.

The first mention of the name as it is now rendered appeared in the Post on February 5, 1975, beneath the headline “No Longer Botanical Gardens”. The name change was made as the focus shifted to zoological exhibits with “ten new enclosures ... built to house 11 species of mammals”.