Back in 2020, Phuket Zoo in Thailand closed its doors for good, following a decline in tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic led to financial difficulties.

Concerns about the welfare of the animals housed in the zoo were raised after a video posted by YouTuber Minh Nyugen discovered that numerous tigers, alligators and bears had been left behind in squalid conditions.Phuket Zoo was closed during the pandemic (YouTube/SeanKing5150)
“We got in there for a bit of a laugh, and thought we were going to come across some healthy animals,” he said in the video, adding that he’d found animals left in ‘disturbing’ conditions.

The following year, Reuters would publish a report stating that all of the remaining animals in the zoo had been rescued and taken to sanctuaries, with Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand stating that 11 tigers and two bears needed rescuing.

However, the story doesn’t end there, as another content creator would later visit the abandoned zoo in June 2023 and claim that various animals were still living in horrifying conditions.