The fate of the last female gorilla held captive in Thailand, Bua Noi, which has been on display in a Bangkok mall for three decades is uncertain and remains controversial. Animal rights activists take over local tourism and business interests.
“Free Bua Noi!” reads graffiti on the walls of the building that houses a mall and on two floors of Pata Zoo. Activists around the world mobilized for the relocation of the female gorilla, known as the “world’s saddest animal,” from Pata Zoo.
However, the family who own Bua Noi have resisted public and government pressure to release the animal, which is in critical emotional condition.
Bua Noi, alone and sad at the zoo | Photo: Wikimedia
The case made headlines again after the local zoo offered a 100,000baht (R$15,320) reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who had spraypainted “Free Bua Noi” on mall walls.
The zoo represents an obstacle to changing animal protection laws. There is a great tourist demand from visitors to take selfies with tigers, elephants, monkeys, orangutans, pygmy goats, tropical birds and other animals that live in terrible conditions.
Authorities have passed new environmental laws aimed primarily at preventing abuse of native animals, and those laws don’t necessarily apply to private zoos like Pata — or nonnative animals like Bua Noi.
“[Pata] may still be open as the zoo wildlife conservation and protection department has not yet applied,” said Padej Laithong, director of the National Wildlife Conservation Office.
Animal welfare regulations only apply to state zoos. The female gorilla is in a private facility, so authorities cannot operate there.
The site applied for a permit extension before the current one expired, the director of the National Wildlife Conservation Office said, adding that he was more concerned about the building’s fire safety than animal welfare. “All of these details must be answered before the license can be renewed, suspended or revoked,” he said.
Bua Noi would have been three years old when she was brought from Germany in 1992. With an average life expectancy of the eastern gorilla of over 40 years, they have spent much of their lives in captivity, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“She needs to get out of here,” said Edwin Wiek, founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, a sanctuary that aims to educate people and rehabilitate animals. “She can’t see the sun or the moon. It’s in a cement box with glass windows.”
As international pressure mounted to release Bua Noi in 2022, the private zoo turned down a 30 million baht offer from Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, saying the gorilla was too old to find a new home.
“She has to be among her own kind or at least be outside and have a chance to see things, experience nature, birds flying around,” Wiek said. Gorillas are species that like to live in company.
Other animal rights groups went further, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals which have staged several protests over the years saying Bua Noi had “extreme psychological distress”.