World’s Worst Zoos: 5 Animal Houses of Horror

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World's worst zoos.

Three simple words, one large oxymoron.

Every enclosure, facility, or "zoological garden" that exists solely to jail animals—and keeps them from roaming freely in their native jungles, mountains, or plains—is "a worst."

Still, some zoos are much worse than others. While there are facilities (mainly in developed nations) that at least pretend to care about their furry inmates, others blatantly disregard their livelihoods in the name of making a cheap buck.

These facilities, either because of tiny budgets or callous indifference, are in the cruelty trade, providing only cramped living spaces, where underfed and under-watered creatures pace back and forth, staring at gawking zoo-goers.

Here are five of the world's worst zoos.

Photo: Getty Images

Kiev Zoo, Ukraine

Banned from the European Association of Zoos and Aquarias in 2006 after the death of a bear, the Kiev Zoo has been taken to court over illegal exportation. What's worse, new managers appointed in October 2011 said that nearly half of the zoo's animals either died or mysteriously disappeared over two years under their predecessors. "The Kiev Zoo will never attain any basic standards, it's so far removed from any zoo in Europe," said John Ruane of Naturewatch in 2011. The facility is seen as a bastion of Ukrainian political corruption: Its former head, Svitlana Berzina, was charged with embezzlement, while its most recent head was fired for allowing too many animals die on his watch. Ecologist Volodymyr Boreiko estimates the zoo has killed upwards of 250 animals, largely due to small cages.

In the above photograph, a woman pays tribute to Boy, an elephant that died at the Kiev Zoo in 2010 after an apparent poisoning.

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Jijamata Udyan, India

The only zoo in Mumbai, Jijamata Udyan is terribly rundown, which isn't all that surprising considering it originally opened in 1861. Currently, the zoo is not allowed to obtain any new animals since its enclosures are so antiquated and decrepit that they do not meet anticruelty standards. As a result, the zoo is fast becoming more of a quasi-taxidermy museum. Two years ago, zoo officials stuffed the last Siberian Tiger in India, to show it off to patrons. Uggh.

Photo: IndiaMike

Giza Zoo, Egypt

All you need to know about Giza Zoo can pretty much be summed up in this crude Youtube video, which documents elephants, with calluses on their legs from shackles, and about 60 baby turtles living in a ridiculously small pond. The zoo keeps its lions in very tiny cages, and vistors are allowed to stick their hands into the big cat cages to touch them. At one point, visitors were even allowed to walk into lions cages—and even hold a baby crocodile. “I’m very pleased with the Egyptians; you can pay to do anything,” says the video's camerman.

Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Gaza Zoo, Palestinian Territories

Gaza Zoo is privately owned and exists only because zookeeper Mohammed Owaida invests his own money and runs the zoo at a loss. Maybe he should consider closing it. In an interview with The Guardian, Mohammed talked about smuggling tigers and lions from Egypt through tunnels and how his zoo is slowly becoming a taxidermy museum. Apparently it is very expensive to get food for the animals. Moreover, Mohammed's inability to procure some animal species has resulted in trickery like donkeys being spraypainted and passed off as zebras.

Photo: Marco Longari/Getty Images

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Built in 1928 as a private zoo for the Sultan of Malaysia, Johor Bahru opened to the public in 1962. The rundown facility only houses mammals and birds, and its unfriendly cages are made of rock and metal. Its most famous former occupant? Shirley the orangutan. Unlike (probably) 99 percent of orangutans, Shirley is addicted to cigarrettes—a habit she picked up from zoogoers who would toss nicotine sticks into her enclosure. Shirley was eventually removed from the zoo.

Photo: Youtube

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Andrew Freeman is a California native with a degree in history from UCLA. He’s covered a wide range of topics for TakePart, but is particularly interested in politics and policy. Email Andrew |@natureofdabeast | TakePart.com