Thailand fails to free Bangkok mall’s caged gorilla that could ‘die any time due to old age’

Name: Fox, raccoon and iguana among 17 live animals found inside luggage at Bangkok airport
Uploaded: 2022-10-24T10:00:25.000Z
Duration: 2 min 2 s
Description: Fox, raccoon and iguana among 17 live animals found inside luggage at Bangkok airport

Thai authorities had planned to buy the 33-year-old gorilla, which has spent over 30 years caged in a Bangkok shopping centre, to free it from the private Pata zoo

But zoo owners rejected the sale offer, claiming that the gorilla might not adjust to a new environment as it was used an ‘absence of natural pathogens’

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Animal rights activists have long called for the release of Bua Noi (Little Lotus), which has spent more than 30 years in a cage at Pata zoo situated on the seventh floor of a shopping centre in Bangkok. Photo: EPA

SCMP’s Asia desk

Published: 6:00pm, 24 Oct 2022Updated: 8:15pm, 24 Oct 2022

Thailand’s efforts to free its last gorilla from a private zoo in the capital have stalled after the 33-year-old primate’s owner refused a sale offer.

Animal rights activists have long called for the release of Bua Noi (Little Lotus), which has spent more than 30 years in a cage at Pata zoo situated on the seventh floor of a shopping centre in Bangkok.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last week said it was planning to buy the female gorilla from the Pata Pinklao department store that runs the zoo, for 30 million baht (US$786,700). It added a fundraising campaign could be considered to get the amount to relocate Bua Noi to Germany where she was born, to spend her remaining life with other gorillas in a better environment.

Tourists look in at the high-rise rooftop cage of two brown bears at Pata zoo, situated on the top floor of a shopping centre in Bangkok. Photo: EPA

But the department store company derailed the ministry’s bid to end the plight of Bua Noi, which is reportedly confined in a space 20m long and 10m wide at the zoo that started in 1983. It also dismissed accusations that the gorilla was being locked up at the high-rise, saying the firm spends 10,000 baht (US$262) a month to take care of the animal.

“The department store executives turned down a plan to relocate the gorilla as earlier requested by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. They were not certain that Bua Noi, which has been used to the absence of natural pathogens, could adjust to a new environment,” the company said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Calling Bua Noi a “cherished animal”, Pata zoo said it is “taking good care of the animal and aware that she could die at any time due to her old age”, the Thai Examiner news website reported.

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Fox, raccoon and iguana among 17 live animals found inside luggage at Bangkok airport

Thai Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said the government will consult conservation experts before deciding on the gorilla’s future.