Animals treated poorly at Dai Nam Safari Park

Today I went to the Dai Nam Safari Park outside of Thu Dau Mot, Vietnam.  The park itself is not bad for a one day excursion away from Saigon.  We visited the pagoda lined entirely of gold and visited a another pagoda on top of the man made hill.  It would have been a fun-filled day if we had not walked into the zoo.

For me, every time I visit a zoo, I measure it with my favorite zoo in my hometown of Seattle, the Woodland Park Zoo.   Until today, the worst zoo I ever visited was in Thailand.  What I saw at the zoo at Dai Nam Safari Park shocked me.  Cramped conditions, untreated cuts, poor water conditions, etc.  Each enclosure had inadequate running room for the animals.  The sea otter exhibit shocked me since I am used to the enclosures given to the otters at the Seattle Aquarium.   Just take a look at the photos below:

(Small area for 4-5 osteriches)

(Another Small Inclosure - A)

(Another Small Inclosure - B)

(Sea Otters swimming in warm uncleaned water)

(Small areas for the rhinos)

(This rhino was very unhealthy with an untreated cut near it's eye)

(This elephant looked sick)

(This elephant's trunk had a puncture wound you can see through)

(These buffalo looked sick)

In general, the majority of the animals were not active.  My friend said they looked quite old, their fur was not shiny due to stress.  Only the tigers and lions seemed content.  After visiting the elephants, we decided to leave the zoo and finally the whole park in general.

It is appalling that animals could be treated in such way.