A Traumatic Zoo Experience: The Toll of War

Last weekend I visited a zoo that might be one of the worst in the world that can still be considered functioning.  This was not the failing but charming family zoo from We Bought a Zoo with Matt Damon.  It was, however, overrun with children’s birthday parties and large families, taking advantage of the opportunity to do something in the city.

I had heard bad things about the zoo in Dakar, but fortunately never went.  I had heard terrible things about the national zoo here in Abidjan, about the animals being killed in the war and it basically being one of the most depressing places ever.  Even with this warning, I was still surprised and saddened with what I saw.

Crocs

The zoo costs 300cfe, or about $.75 to get in.  There’s an extra fee for fancy cameras, but otherwise that’s it.  The zoo had a handful of snakes, chimps and other primates, 50+ crocodiles (apparently one of the largest croc breading programs in the world or something?), a few gazelles, a hippo, an elephant, and some small rodent-like things called biches, which are actually miniature deer.  Feeding time consisted of people directly feeding the animals, a zookeeper tossing a few handfuls of green bananas to the herbivores, and some baby chicks hanging out in the cage of a sleeping snake.  There was a cage of chickens occupying a old cage that used to belong to some exotic birds, with an old sign saying that the exotic birds were supported by a German bird NGO.

This hippo apparently shares a pond with a turtle, but none of us could see it through the muck.

Abandonned building and habitat

The zoo, like other parts of the country I’ve seen, was occupied by the ghosts of the war.  What once may have been a famous and thriving zoo (at it’s time), is now fighting to keep the animals alive, visitors coming, and the surrounding jungle at bay.  There were a lot of empty cages, abandoned buildings, and vast empty spaces that you dare not walk into for fear of real, non-zoo snakes.

A month or so ago, I had read that a British zoologist (?) had recently spent some time in Abidjan earlier this year ,working with the zoo to improve things.  Sadly, there’s a lot left.  Most of the animals were visibly agitated, pacing back and forth, making uncomfortable sounds, and just not behaving “normally” for animals in captivity.  Many also looked sick, with ulcers coming from various parts of their body, puss from their eyes, diarrhea, terrible hemorrhoids, and more.  I feel bad even posting this, but it also gives a look at what the war has done.

Cages were small, crowded, and lots of cages were empty and/or in disrepair.  Water was disgustingly dirty. There was an older, British man leading a group of Africans (francophone and Anglophone) who seemed to know what was going on and where there should (or shouldn’t ) be animals, and he may or may not have been the zoologist that I had read about.

Fortunately, the visiting zookeeper is trying to help, but the entire zoo needs a complete overhaul.  Not that I’m an expert or anything, but basically the zoo needs to be temporarily shut down and completely taken over by a NGO or private donor who can completely revamp it, transfer it back to local staff, and then set a slightly higher price (perhaps 500cfe or 1,000cfe, i.e $1 - $2 a person?).  It’s currently in such a sorry state that no one would ever want to pay a higher price, but it can’t properly take care of the animals at $0.75/ a visitor.  Perhaps my advocating for outside assistance (the giving of gifts, Santa Clause syndrome?) is in conflict with my last post, but after the renovations and working with the staff to make the zoo sustainable and more humane for the animals, the NGO would leave and hopefully not have to come back.  Maybe other zoos or NGOs have thought of doing just this, but the political situation in the country is not yet stable enough to give anyone enough confidence to invest so much money that isn’t for democracy building or health?

Update: I just Googled Abidjan National Zoo and found this blog for the Friends of Abidjan Zoo, but the most recent update is from early 2007, after the civil war but before the post-electoral crisis of recent years. And here's a poor English translation of an animal protection organization in CI: http://www.panimale.org/index2.en.php?p=zoologique_en.  

Also, here's a quick YouTube video about the zoo that was just posted yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QSMmTGa4dk  Warning: it's in French, but shows some of the (better) images of the animals and explains that they rely on grocery stores to provide fruits and veggies for the animals, but also explains how many animals were killed in the war and post-electoral crisis.  [Title: Le zoo d'Abidjan survit malgre les crises, or The Zoo in Abidjan survives inspite of the crises.] I'm not sure where the cheetah/leopard was when I was there, but we definitely didn't see it though its cage is apparently right next to the hyennas. 

More pictures from my zoo trip can be found here:  ABIDJANZOO