Animal welfare regulations are monitored at only eight state-linked zoos, and with private facilities, officials are more worried about them fulfilling licensing requirements.
Pata had applied for a licence extension before theirs expired, Padej said, adding he was mostly concerned over the building’s fire safety – not the animals’ welfare.
“All of these details must be answered before the license can be renewed, suspended or revoked,” he said.
“AMONG HER OWN KIND”
A representative for Pata Zoo did not return multiple requests for comment.
But the zoo has blamed foreigners for the criticism, noting that zoos around the world house gorillas without problems.
“No citizens of any country in the world have attacked their country for possessing gorillas, except in Thailand,” the management said in a six-page statement published after the graffiti incident.
They said the gorilla has been well-cared for throughout her life, despite the creature costing more to support than she brought in.
Bua Noi was reportedly three years old when she was brought over from Germany in 1992. With the average lifespan of the Eastern Gorilla being more than 40 years, according to IUCN, she has spent much of her life at Pata.
“She needs to get out of it,” Edwin Wiek of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, a sanctuary that aims to educate people and rehabilitate animals, told AFP.
“She is not able to see the sun, the moon. She’s in a cement box with glass windows.”