SOS for Gembira Loka Zoo

A few of my Indonesian friends took me to the Gembira Loka Zoo in Yogyakarta recently. What I anticipated to be an enjoyable trip to the zoo turned out to be a shocking showcase of how cruel animals are being treated in Indonesian zoos.

I felt so helpless that I could not do anything to help the animals. Only after reading the article that appeared in the Sunday edition of The Jakarta Post (July 9, 1995) did I realize the existence of the group Friends of the Zoo which is doing a lot to change conditions at the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta.

I have not been to the Ragunan Zoo, but from the article I get the impression that the condition of Gembira Loka Zoo seems to be identical to that of Ragunan.

As such, I do hope that Friends of the Zoo could get involved at Gembira Loka too. My friends and I from the University of Gadjah Mada would be very happy to be involved in setting up the Gembira Loka chapter of Friends of the Zoo.

We truly think that this is the least we could do in our effort to improve the deplorable conditions in which the animals are kept and the attitude of zoo goers towards the animals.

MD HAFEZUL SURAJA A. WILSON

Yogyakarta