No freedom on the horizon for mall gorilla

Lonely life: Bua Noi looking on from behind the bars of her cage with only a swinging tyre at the Pata Zoo in Bangkok. Visitors have to take an elevator or climb stairs up seven floors to visit the zoo. — AFP

Seven storeys above a shopfloor hawking cheap perfume and nylon underwear, Thailand’s “shopping mall gorilla” sits alone in a cage – her home for 30 years despite a re-ignited row over her captivity.

Activists around the world have long campaigned for the primate to be moved from Pata Zoo, located on top of a Bangkok mall, with singer Cher and actor Gillian Anderson adding their voices in 2020.