There are plenty of zoos in the world that would qualify for the title of Worst Zoo, but the privately-owned Teuk Chhou Zoo in Cambodia is clearly in the running.
The zoo is owned and operated by Nhim Vanda, Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management vice president.
The story in the English-language Phnom Penh Post says it all -- Zoo of Horrors
It has no roofed-in shelters as the wet season approaches or even any semblance of a natural habitat for the animals as witnessed during a visit over the weekend.
Orangutans and baboons swing restlessly back and forth between the steel bars of their three-metre square enclosures, while eagles and other birds of prey scarcely have enough space to spread their wings, let alone fly – that is if they are one of the lucky few whose wings aren’t badly damaged.
The state of the zoo’s two elephants is heartbreaking, as their emaciated necks stretch through the thick bars of their enclosure in an attempt to eat blades of grass, seemingly one of their few sources of nourishment.
The skeletal bodies of the two animals are hard to ignore and the two have become aggressive, lashing out at visitors who step near their enclosure.
The animals are so badly mistreated there that they depend on food from visitors to survive.
The guy who runs this place acknowledges that his animals are thin but says he doesn't have enough money to buy food and says his critics should pony up the money to help him. That takes some serous gall.
A spokesman for an organization called Wildlife Alliance says the group has helped the zoo previously. Others are quoted saying that tiger cubs and other animals that were once at the zoo have just disappeared.
It's heartbreaking to go to the link and see the picture of an emaciated elephant trying to reach grass on the outside of its pen. It's even more heartbreaking to not be able to offer a solution or a course of action for this problem.