So my dad got hold of a few tickets to the Lisbon Zoo, unfortunately no one I knew was particularly interested in going, but since they were nearing the end of their validity I decided I might as well have a different afternoon and headed by myself to the Zoo.
Background
I hadn't been to the Zoo in a good 10-15 years. At the time the Zoo was going through financial difficulties and it was basically an animal exhibit with most animals being in small enclosed areas, including most felines and several primates.
The Zoo also had a few surreal situations, such as smaller monkeys going off the cages and roaming around people, as a kid that amused me a lot, but looking back that was a clear hazard (for both the humans and the animals).
I had heard the Zoo had been going through a process of change through the last few years, so I was pretty curious to see how it had evolved since last time I was there.
First Impressions
From the entrance you could see a bigger focus on education and species protection.
There was a good amount of information about the programs of species protection that the Zoo participates in, as well as some of the positive results of those programs, such as programs to reintegrate animals into wild parks in their natural habits (I recall a piece about a few lions that were reintegrated with success).
The Zoo also had several areas where it offered information about threats to particular species as well as small things people could do to help animals, such as boycotting certain types of products (that lead to the destruction of animal habitats) or donating to certain organizations.
Some interesting information about how the animals are feed within the Zoo, with certain types of animals (such as the Lions, Elephants or the primates) not being feed directly, but instead having to perform activities to reach the food in an attempt to stimulate the animals to be more active and also to recreate (to some degree) the experience they would have in the wild.
There was also a section with pictures and texts showing the evolution of the Zoo since it's creation in 1884, including showing several situations that today would be heavily criticized (such as Chimpanzees riding bikes or kids riding elephants), I found it refreshing to see that they weren't trying to hide the negative things the Zoo had done in the past (though the text itself didn't address that).
Animals Conditions- The Good
A decent portion of the animals were in outside open areas that emulated their natural habitats, obviously this spaces was limited in size, but it still allowed for decent amount of space for the animals to move around.
Additionally the animals also had access to enclosed areas that they could retreat to in colder days or during rain. There were quite a few species that I didn't (or barely) saw exactly due to them retreating to those spaces (especially closer to the end of the day).
One of the most obvious improvements was in the conditions of the Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Gorillas. The Gorillas (and Orangutans if I recall) in particular used to be in a building in enclosed spaces, and it felt very much like going through a prison, with a very heavy and depressive environment.
Now all of those species had open area (next to each other but without being connected) with a significant amount of space to do as they pleased, and with access to an enclosed space that they could access.
Another case worth mentioning are the felines, most of which were in relatively small cases (for their size) when I went there as a kid, thankfully they are all now in open spaces, some of which in pretty decent sized areas (the tigers in particular).
Animal Conditions- The Bad
It seemed that the less popular animals (in particular the less popular felines) had considerably less space than the more popular ones.
A few smaller animals were still in smaller closed spaces (such as the Koalas and several species of smaller monkeys), those spaces are still considerably better than the cages that some of this animals used to be in (they actually attempt to recreate their natural habits for example), but it still felt like the condition of those particular animals could and should be improved.
The biggest issue I had with the zoo was when I walked by a section of cages that used to hold tigers and monkeys and was now seemingly abandoned
The area had a sign covering a good 2/3rds of the cages saying "closed for improvement" and the cages themselves seemed unchanged from the last time I had been there and still lacking in conditions to hold animals.
I looked at it for a bit since it seemed as if there was absolutely no work being done in the actual structures, and it was at that point that I noticed a monkey inside of the cage. While I can understand a note about the area being improved (or planned to be improved), I don't think there's any excuse to cover the majority of the cage (and thus block off good part of the sun) when animals are still residing there.
More so, I later looked at the map of the Zoo and noticed that the map doesn't even mention the existence of this area (should be on the lower left corner to the left of E and 8 where the trees are).
It came across as the Zoo being embarrassed of the condition this animals (potentially due to lack of funding) were being kept in and decided to just hide it from the general public while keeping the animals inside.
I could be wrong and they might actually be improving the structures, but regardless of that I feel that the situation was badly managed.
Human Security
Overall the Zoo seemed to provide good distance between humans and most animals, there was a few sections with Monkeys living in islands where I wasn't too convinced that the monkeys couldn't reach shore if they wanted to, but I'll assume that they did enough studies to guarantee that's not the case
With that said were a few areas where I was a bit worried about security, in particular two areas one next to the other, both of which were several meters high and where located on top of the Lions and Elephants areas. The only protection to be found from falling into the animals sections was a short fence with a lot of space between each wood stick, a child could easily go past the fence, and even an adult could fall over it. Considering the amount of kids and schools that go to the Zoo this seemed like a massive oversight.
Final Thoughts
The Zoo still has clearly a lot to improve, quite a few species could use more space, and in particular the situation with the partially covered cases shocked me (even if they lack the funds to renovate the area).
Overall though, I thought the Zoo did good strides into what they should be about (education and species protection as well as reintegration in their natural habitat), and while it has a lot to improve, I think it's going in the correct course, the changes that the Zoo did since the last time I was there were significant and in a very good way.
And despite all the critics, I did came off the Zoo with the feeling that, for the most part, there's good work being done in terms of animal treatment and conditions (with the very unfortunate exceptions I mentioned) as well as in terms of education of the general public and especially of the many kids and schools that visit the Zoo every year.
I'm curious to visit it again in a few years to see if they'll be able to continue improving the Zoo and correct the remaining issues it has.
Lisbon Zoo Site
Background
I hadn't been to the Zoo in a good 10-15 years. At the time the Zoo was going through financial difficulties and it was basically an animal exhibit with most animals being in small enclosed areas, including most felines and several primates.
The Zoo also had a few surreal situations, such as smaller monkeys going off the cages and roaming around people, as a kid that amused me a lot, but looking back that was a clear hazard (for both the humans and the animals).
I had heard the Zoo had been going through a process of change through the last few years, so I was pretty curious to see how it had evolved since last time I was there.
First Impressions
From the entrance you could see a bigger focus on education and species protection.
There was a good amount of information about the programs of species protection that the Zoo participates in, as well as some of the positive results of those programs, such as programs to reintegrate animals into wild parks in their natural habits (I recall a piece about a few lions that were reintegrated with success).
The Zoo also had several areas where it offered information about threats to particular species as well as small things people could do to help animals, such as boycotting certain types of products (that lead to the destruction of animal habitats) or donating to certain organizations.
Some interesting information about how the animals are feed within the Zoo, with certain types of animals (such as the Lions, Elephants or the primates) not being feed directly, but instead having to perform activities to reach the food in an attempt to stimulate the animals to be more active and also to recreate (to some degree) the experience they would have in the wild.
There was also a section with pictures and texts showing the evolution of the Zoo since it's creation in 1884, including showing several situations that today would be heavily criticized (such as Chimpanzees riding bikes or kids riding elephants), I found it refreshing to see that they weren't trying to hide the negative things the Zoo had done in the past (though the text itself didn't address that).
Animals Conditions- The Good
A decent portion of the animals were in outside open areas that emulated their natural habitats, obviously this spaces was limited in size, but it still allowed for decent amount of space for the animals to move around.
Additionally the animals also had access to enclosed areas that they could retreat to in colder days or during rain. There were quite a few species that I didn't (or barely) saw exactly due to them retreating to those spaces (especially closer to the end of the day).
One of the most obvious improvements was in the conditions of the Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Gorillas. The Gorillas (and Orangutans if I recall) in particular used to be in a building in enclosed spaces, and it felt very much like going through a prison, with a very heavy and depressive environment.
Now all of those species had open area (next to each other but without being connected) with a significant amount of space to do as they pleased, and with access to an enclosed space that they could access.
Another case worth mentioning are the felines, most of which were in relatively small cases (for their size) when I went there as a kid, thankfully they are all now in open spaces, some of which in pretty decent sized areas (the tigers in particular).
Animal Conditions- The Bad
It seemed that the less popular animals (in particular the less popular felines) had considerably less space than the more popular ones.
A few smaller animals were still in smaller closed spaces (such as the Koalas and several species of smaller monkeys), those spaces are still considerably better than the cages that some of this animals used to be in (they actually attempt to recreate their natural habits for example), but it still felt like the condition of those particular animals could and should be improved.
The biggest issue I had with the zoo was when I walked by a section of cages that used to hold tigers and monkeys and was now seemingly abandoned
The area had a sign covering a good 2/3rds of the cages saying "closed for improvement" and the cages themselves seemed unchanged from the last time I had been there and still lacking in conditions to hold animals.
I looked at it for a bit since it seemed as if there was absolutely no work being done in the actual structures, and it was at that point that I noticed a monkey inside of the cage. While I can understand a note about the area being improved (or planned to be improved), I don't think there's any excuse to cover the majority of the cage (and thus block off good part of the sun) when animals are still residing there.
More so, I later looked at the map of the Zoo and noticed that the map doesn't even mention the existence of this area (should be on the lower left corner to the left of E and 8 where the trees are).
It came across as the Zoo being embarrassed of the condition this animals (potentially due to lack of funding) were being kept in and decided to just hide it from the general public while keeping the animals inside.
I could be wrong and they might actually be improving the structures, but regardless of that I feel that the situation was badly managed.
Human Security
Overall the Zoo seemed to provide good distance between humans and most animals, there was a few sections with Monkeys living in islands where I wasn't too convinced that the monkeys couldn't reach shore if they wanted to, but I'll assume that they did enough studies to guarantee that's not the case
With that said were a few areas where I was a bit worried about security, in particular two areas one next to the other, both of which were several meters high and where located on top of the Lions and Elephants areas. The only protection to be found from falling into the animals sections was a short fence with a lot of space between each wood stick, a child could easily go past the fence, and even an adult could fall over it. Considering the amount of kids and schools that go to the Zoo this seemed like a massive oversight.
Final Thoughts
The Zoo still has clearly a lot to improve, quite a few species could use more space, and in particular the situation with the partially covered cases shocked me (even if they lack the funds to renovate the area).
Overall though, I thought the Zoo did good strides into what they should be about (education and species protection as well as reintegration in their natural habitat), and while it has a lot to improve, I think it's going in the correct course, the changes that the Zoo did since the last time I was there were significant and in a very good way.
And despite all the critics, I did came off the Zoo with the feeling that, for the most part, there's good work being done in terms of animal treatment and conditions (with the very unfortunate exceptions I mentioned) as well as in terms of education of the general public and especially of the many kids and schools that visit the Zoo every year.
I'm curious to visit it again in a few years to see if they'll be able to continue improving the Zoo and correct the remaining issues it has.
Lisbon Zoo Site