Prominent Malaysian animal rights activists say that conditions at Kemaman Zoo in Terengganu are appalling. Members of the NGOs Malaysian Friends of the Animals and Friends of the Orangutans (Foto) have recently provided photographic evidence indicating that several resident animals, from orangutans to elephants, were being neglected and mistreated at…

The pictures of several animals at Kemaman Zoo in Pahang are heartrending. The  images, which have been shared widely on social media, show chimps, a juvenile orangutan, an elephant, and a tiger kept in what appear to be dismal conditions. Animal rights activists say the photographs, which were taken recently…

Ask animal lovers, and Lasah, a 37-year-old elephant, has endured so much abuse and neglect for years that he needs to be freed from the Langkawi Elephant Adventures Park. The pachyderm has been kept in chains most of the time and used in elephant rides in the rest. Ask management at the park, however,…

An online dating site for lonely orangutans? Now there’s an idea! A Dutch zoo, in the city of Apeldoorn, has created a dating app for its resident orangutans as part of a captive breeding program. Researchers at the Apenheul Primate Park want to study the emotional responses of the apes when they are shown…

You would think that it would be a simple matter: following a public outrage over his ill-treatment, wildlife authorities would step in and rescue Lasah, an ageing work elephant, from facing further daily abuse at a tourist site. But no, you would be wrong. Last July the conservationist group Friends of the Orangutans (FOTO) first…

If you needed any more proof of the wanton disregard people worldwide have for wild animals, you got it recently when news came of a jaguar being shot dead following an Olympic ceremony in Brazil. What was the jaguar, not being a sports fan presumably, doing there? The feline was used…

Dismal. That’s how an animal rights activist describes the state of affairs in Malaysian zoos. Not only do the country’s zoos keep animals in cramped and “decrepit” enclosures where they suffer from “appalling neglect,” but they do so in willing violation of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. So insists Sean…

Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort & Spa in Sabah is under the spotlight for its exploitation of orphan orangutans for financial gain under the facade of rehabilitation. The Rasa Ria Resort has been fed a continuous supply of orphan orangutans for almost 20 years.  They are used as a sort of…

Until last week, tiny wire cages, abusive guests and distressed animals characterized Yuk Chin Mini Malaysia Zoo in Borneo, Eastern Malaysia.  Monkeys cowered from kicks aimed at their cage doors by visiting schoolboys, all the animals were severely malnourished, and a crocodile languished in a pool of its own green…

The Malayan sun bear is a little-known species.  The smallest bear in the world, it is a playful, honey-loving tree-climber that once roamed much of Southeast Asia.  Now, though, it lives mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it is threatened by deforestation and poaching. Thanks to these two threats, the…