Disclaimer: This post is scheduled. Right now I’m probably swimming in the clear blue waters of the Andaman Sea, or tanning on the white sandy beaches of Pulau Langkawi. But please do read and comment on this post, and I will reply and come back to it as soon as I can. 😀

One of the places we went to during our stay in Bangkok was the Thonburi Snake Farm. It was apparently part of the Chao Phraya River tour that we bought upon our arrival to the airport. Of course, we didn’t know at that point that a visit to the Snake Farm was part of the tour.

Initially we were quite excited about going to a zoo. But of course I wasn’t expecting much from a THB200 per visit. Perhaps it’s anther small Louis Mini Zoo.

The “Thonburi Snake Farm” is considered as one of the key attractions of the Bangkok khlong tours. It’s not only a snake farm but also a zoo of some sort, with a small number of animals kept in cages for the sole purpose of entertaining tourists.

I didn’t know zoos still keep animals in cages. It looks very sad to me.

It is obvious that the purpose of this zoo is to entertain. Each cage had names yet no information of the animal. All animals are fed corn cobs, even the carnivores.

Cages were very dirty and very bare. Animals must have been bored out of their minds.

The look sad as well. Some animals are meant to do certain things, run, fly, roll around. But for many of these cages, there were just not enough space for those activities. And the were usually put alone in their cages, which makes it even more sad.

There are many places in Bangkok that I would so recommend to you to visit, but the purpose of me writing this post is so that you would not spend your money here. Spend it elsewhere.

The Thonburi Snake Farm should seriously improve living conditions of the animals. I don’t pretend to be a lover of all animals, there are some animals that I wish I would never come across.

But I like zoos and I had many great experiences with zoos when I was little. I genuinely think that zoos serve a noble function in educating children and people about animals and how animals live.

But I do believe that animals should be given respect especially if you’re making money out of their suffrage. They should be put in spacious enclosures that mirrors their natural habitat as far as possible, instead of barren cages. They should lead life that mimic their lives as in the wild as much as possible.

Instead, they are subjected to this. Objectified. Sadly so far away from the way that they are supposed to live.

A sad thing is that these animals have been in cages too long that putting them back in the wild would just immediately kill them as they do not know how to survive out there.

Coincidentally if you like zoos, perhaps you will enjoy this book. It’s called the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and I think it’s one of the most thought-provoking books  have ever read. Unfortunately it’s not leisure reading but more of a serious book, which you might appreciate more with a reading guide. But I do recommend it to everyone particularly if you are fond of zoos. 🙂 Enjoy.