Penang mini zoo in a limbo

BY CHOONG KWEE KIM

PENANG: A mini zoo complete with exotic plants and animals including two Bengal tigers may be facing eviction. 

The fate of the 15-year old privately-owned Penang Orchid, Hibiscus and Reptile Farm in Bukit Jambul – the only mini zoo of its kind on the island – is uncertain after the lease from the landowner Penang Development Corp expired yesterday.  

Apart from an impressive collection of plants, the farm is also home to century-old giant tortoises, albino pythons, alligators, birds including ostriches, emus, peacocks, cassowaries and fishes such as the giant arapaima among others. 

It was reported that the farm was to make way for a Taiwanese international school to woo Taiwanese investors to the state. 

Farm owner Michael Ooi, 53, said although the state government offered a larger piece of land in Teluk Bahang, the location was not feasible.  

“I sometimes wake up in cold sweat wondering how I am going to move my garden which I have tended to for the last 15 years. 

“It needs love and time to build such a garden and for it to become what it is today - a clean, beautiful and a healthy place to visit,” said Ooi, who is also the Orchid Society of Malaysia vice-president and Federation of Malaya Orchid Society Penang president. 

Horticulturist Ooi built the garden in 1989 as a hobby after he obtained the land on a five-yearly lease.  

The garden has a snake show and a pet adoption service for those who cannot care for their pets. Ooi had hybridised orchids and hibiscus and named the plants after the country's leaders.  

He had also successfully bred several endangered animals including the anaconda and giant aldabra tortoises, believed to be the first successful captive breeding in the region. 

“I will be heartbroken if this place is bulldozed,” Ooi said.