Owing to the coronavirus restrictions imposed in various countries, most zoos around the world are temporarily closed for visitors. They’re empty except the staff that comes to look after the animals. While some of them are using this opportunity to let animals roam free within the premises, others have had some very different ideas.
According to Mail Online, the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Bangkok made a tethered chimpanzee wear a Hawaiian shirt, denim shorts, and a surgical mask. Subsequently, it was made to ride a bicycle fitted with a tank of disinfectant and clap when the task was finished.
A video of a mask-wearing chimpanzee on a bicycle disinfecting a zoo in Thailand has sparked an online debate about the treatment of animals. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/6HmcXxMqP7
— Yicai Global 第一财经 (@yicaichina) April 16, 2020
NY Post quoted farm director Uthen Yangpraphakorn saying,
“We have been closed since the government orders about the virus, so in the meantime, we do not have much to do. We clean the place two or three times a week in case the government will allow us to reopen, so we are ready to start accepting visitors again. The chimp was also trained in the farm so we just brought him out to let him stretch his limbs during this inactive period.”
Animal rights group PETA has filed a complaint with the Thai police. The Sun quoted PETA Asia spokesman Nirali Shah saying,
“Places like Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo are hellholes where animals like this chimpanzee endure miserable lives in captivity every single day. They are routinely mistreated and know little more than chains. When they’re not used for human ‘entertainment,’ they are held in cramped cages.”
In a zoo in Thailand, a chimpanzee put on a mask and sprayed disinfectant water in the park on a bicycle. At the end of the video, the staff also encouraged chimpanzees to applaud their work.#Thai #COVIDー19 #COVID19 #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/clTDn65mLv
— Memories (@tv20265165) April 16, 2020
Do you think the exercise was just harmless fun or does it amount to animal cruelty?