Is it a zoo?

I received a text message a few days ago from a friend expressing serious concern about animals and the conditions they were being kept in, at a recently opened 'Zoo' in Luxor.

Kim at ACE, had also been made aware by certain issues, by people living in Luxor. We were told of animals were being kept in inappropriate conditions, so we had to investigate, offer assistance and advice to the people concerned.

Swamp cats, peacocks, deer, tortoise, snakes, monkeys, ostrich, gerbils, mongoose, fish and birds were caged around a seating area, that was a coffee shop/restaurant. A lion cub was no longer here, but we had been told it was there for the opening and was being sprayed by drugs to make it sleep every time it woke up.

10am we visited and saw no-one cleaning cages or feeding the animals. Most were afraid, disorientated and in alien conditions. We agreed a meeting with the owner was necessary and at 12 midday we returned to discuss all the issues we had previously seen with the Manager, who was a vet.

Many problems were highlighted, basic things such as food and water were stressed as priority to the vet/manager.
Each animal has a different natural habitat, eating habits and social activity. They have all been taken from this, transported from Cairo by car and left in the conditions they currently live. It is unimaginable that 2 fallow deer are now in a concrete cage with nowhere to graze/hide/run/be with a herd of fellow deer.

No food stores for the animals, apparently, someone goes out 3, yes 3 times a day to buy all the various foods for the animals. BUT, there IS a kitchen full of food for the paying guests, a large room full of dead stuffed animals that had water and more room than the living animals!

This is a black faced monkey, trying to escape the sun as he has no shade....I knew the monkey would be the most upsetting thing I would see, as they are so close to human beings in every way..

We have an appointment Saturday with the manager to see if any of the suggestions we have made have been implemented. We must try and work with these people, because if the zoo were to close, what would happen to the animals?
The manager has 2 weeks to turn this around. But with no laws/legislation for animals here, we can only hope to make everything good here and set an example to other zoos in Egypt.