Kudat mini zoo shut down and animals confiscated

Rescued at last: Leopard cats being taken away by wildlife rangers from the Victory Mini Zoo in Kudat.

KOTA KINABALU: A mini zoo in Kudat has been shut down with immediate steps being taken by wildlife rangers to rescue some 500 animals and birds which have been living in squalid conditions.

They included slow lorises, binturong (bear cat), gibbons, parrots, eagles, owls and hornbills, lorikeets, leopard cats, wild boars and two pythons.

Some of them would be sent to the state-owned Lok Kawi Zoo near here, Sabah Wildlife Department deputy director Dr Sen Nathan said.

Others might be released back into the wild, he said.

Many of them had been kept in dirty cages at the Victory Mini Zoo in Kg Papapat near Matunggong, about 160km from here.

Dr Nathan said the department had revoked its licence and had begun since Friday to confiscate the animals and birds from the zoo.

The closure of the zoo came about after wildlife rangers seized two endangered turtles (Green turtle and Hawskbill turtle) from a farm on Thursday and found that the zoo operators were keeping more animals than they were permitted to.

“It would take more than two weeks to do an inventory and rescue the animals and birds from the mini zoo,” he said.

Wildlife officials have detained a manager of the zoo following the seizure of the turtles.

The mini zoo was opened about 12 years ago with a permit from the Wildlife Department.

In Johor Baru, the state government is carrying out an investigation on Tuesday’s disappearance of four monkeys from the Johor Zoo.

“We are worried about this as it is the second time that someone had come into the zoo and stolen animals,” state Housing and Local Government executive councillor Datuk Abdul Latiff Bandi said.

Several birds were stolen previously.

“We will be looking at ways to beef up security, including installing CCTVs at the enclosure and the main exit point,” he said when contacted.

Known as the common marmoset, the small monkeys could possibly fetch a price of RM8,000 or more each on the black market.

Johor Baru (South) OCPD Asst Comm Sulaiman Salleh said police had recorded eight statements from the zoo staff.

ACP Sulaiman also urged the public to contact the police hotline at 07-221 2999 if they found the animals at pet shops or if they know of someone selling the monkeys.