Pata Zoo


Pata Zoo is a small private zoo on the 6th and 7th floors of Pata Pinklao Department Store, Bang Yi Khan Subdistrict, Bang Phlat District, Bangkok near Borommaratchachonnani and Arun Amarin Intersections with Phra Pinklao Bridge. Pata Zoo has operated since the beginning of 1983, along with the department store. For years it has been the focus of Thai animal rights activists who charge the zoo with inhumane treatment of animals.

Layout

The zoo is divided into two parts:
Animal rights activists submitted a petition of 35,000 signatures in September 2014 to Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation calling for the zoo's closure and the immediate removal of Bua Noi from the zoo. The DNP responded by declaring it could not withdraw the licence of Pata Zoo as the zoo had not done anything against the law. The DNP director-general argued that the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act did not forbid animals from being caged in high-rise buildings and, therefore, Pata Zoo did not violate the law by maintaining a zoo on top of a building. The zoo immediately declared its innocence of any wrongdoing.
In March 2015, it was reported that Thai authorities charged that Pata Zoo had broken several laws and ordered the removal of all large animals, including Bua Noi, from the zoo. The zoo refused to free the gorilla and give her to another zoo., Bua Noi was still in captivity at the zoo.