Better homes await Bangkok’s caged gorilla, petitioner says
An online petition aimed at moving Little Lotus, the female gorilla at Bangkok’s controversial Pata Zoo, into a more natural confinement elsewhere, claims that there are “many wonderful” zoos around the world interested in accommodating her.
The petition at Change.org, titled “Save gorilla trapped in terrible zoo for 30 years”, has thus far gained more than 92,000 signatures.
Jodi Broad, author of the petition, said Doug Cress, chief executive of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, had spoken to zoo directors around the world about providing a new home for Little Lotus, also known as Bua Noi.
The gorilla has since 1983 lived in a cage at Pata Zoo, which occupies the air-conditioned top floor of a department store in Pinklao district. She has known no other home.
“There are many zoos that are very excited about welcoming Little Lotus into their natural-environment gorilla enclosures,” Broad wrote on the campaign page. “Now we just need to convince the owner to release Little Lotus so she can have a family again.”
Broad noted that Doug Cress is well known for his work with the United Nations-sponsored Great Ape Survival Partnership.
