Malaysian Disappointed in Zoo Negara After Seeing Orangutan Eating Plastic

We understand Cmylia’s anger and frustration, but we’re pretty sure the zoo wouldn’t have ‘let’ the orangutan chew on the piece of plastic on purpose, right?

She probably thought so too, as she initially approached Zoo Negara via their Instagram account with the video in order to get some answers. They had apparently ‘seen’ her message, but only responded to her a day later.

Source: twitter

Zoo Negara responded to her complaint via Instagram with, “Hi, thank you for your feedback, and we truly appreciate your generous concern about our wildlife. We definitely take your comment as our top priority and will overcome this situation. Thanks again for your support and have a pleasant day ahead.”

She had also filed online and offline complaints regarding the issue and received similar generic ‘Okay, thank you’ responses. While Zoo Negara’s rote responses certainly do not help, the zoo itself wouldn’t be giving the animals plastic to eat, so nature advocate Freyr (@sunfloweraidil) made clear the potential cause of the incident – the visitors.

it’s expected that disrespectful visitors to throw things at the animals/enclosures.

but that does not mean, this issue cannot be controlled or contained. most of them face zoochosis (stereotypic behaviour in captivity) due to less enrichment activity. zoo singapore bersih je.

— freyr (@sunfloweraidil) September 3, 2019

Freyr wrote, “It’s expected that disrespectful visitors would throw things at the animals/enclosures. But that doesn’t mean that this issue cannot be controlled or contained.”

What does it say about Malaysians if we are unable to save both the animals in the wild and the animals in captivity from our wasteful, destructive ways? While we may never find out who the true culprit behind the littering at Zoo Negara was, let’s hope that the piece of plastic has been properly disposed of and that this never happens again.

Cmylia’s posting has since garnered over 5,300 retweets.

Zoo Negara should have the right to fine those who litter on their premises to help with their funding.