Do Not Go To Ueno Zoo.

The zoo, situated in the heart of Ueno park, is pretty popular, and one of Ueno’s main attractions. knowing this, my family and i paid it a visit after seeing it nearby some markets. it was a shockingly cheap price at around ¥600, which i knew would not be a good thing in terms of quality. If you can get a maccas meal for the same price, there’s something wrong.

the park was mostly dirt with a few exhibitions in between, including birds and lemurs around the entrance and further back. the lack of space was ASTOUNDING. the small birds had a net maybe 5 metres high, and were just flying back and forth, there were maybe 20 flamingos in an area the size of a swimming pool, and the shoebill (who i had been excited to see) was depressed and just lying there. the cages were dirty, had barely any vegetation, and were sad and small. the ‘vivarium’ reptile house was probably the worst part. the crocodile tank for one that was maybe 2 metres long was tiny, with a small pond of water that it could barely fit in. just like the others, it was just lying there. the galapagos tortoise was the same, and its enclosure was pretty much just a patch of dirt. inside the nocturnal animal house, the creatures were showing clear signs of zoophism, running back and forth aimlessly. i didn’t get to see the larger animals except the hippo, however their enclosures were also ridiculously small. there were scratch marks on the glass and doors and the animals were almost grey. it was the most disturbed i’d been in all of japan.

i have plenty of photos that show these exact conditions however i cannot upload them here. not only are you getting 0 value for your money because all the animals are sad, you’re also giving to a business that doesn’t care one bit about the welfare of their creatures. so please don’t attend.