A campaign to free a gorilla from a zoo inside a Bangkok shopping mall gained new momentum as a senior official agreed to meet with the activists, they said Tuesday.
Female gorilla Bua Noi (Little Lotus), about 26 years-old, sits behind the bars and glass-surrounded cage at Pata Zoo, situated on the top floor of a shopping centre in Bangkok. (EPA photo)
Nipon Chotibal, director of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, agreed to meet with the activists Wednesday, they said.
Bua Noi, a female gorilla, has been in a concrete cage on top of the Pata shopping centre since 1987. The mall zoo holds hundreds of other species as well.
The campaign led by Sinjira Apaitan has gathered more than 35,800 signatures demanding that the license be revoked, to find a better home for the aged gorilla.
"I don't think animals should be locked up in such unnatural habitat," Ms Sinjira said. "I hope to help all other animals being held captive in this high-rise zoo as well."
The zoo has attracted attention of animal rights activists because of its unsuitable location and run-down condition.
Pata Zoo director Kanit Sermsirimongkol defended the facility and its treatment of animals.
"Bua Noi is very valuable to our zoo and we would not do anything to harm her in anyway," he said.
