Pata Zoo hunts graffiti artists

“Free Bua Noi” is spray-painted across the storefront above the main entrance of the Pata Department Store, which operates Pata Zoo, where the gorilla Bua Noi has lived for more than three decades. (Photo: Pata Zoo)
“Free Bua Noi” is spray-painted across the storefront above the main entrance of the Pata Department Store, which operates Pata Zoo, where the gorilla Bua Noi has lived for more than three decades. (Photo: Pata Zoo)

Pata Zoo has offered a 100,000-baht reward for information leading to the arrest of artists who spray-painted “Free Bua Noi” above the main entrance of the Pata Department Store in Bangkok.

The graffiti attack follows what the zoo called unfair criticism of its care of the 33-year-old gorilla Bua Noi by activist groups going back two decades.

The store will now take legal action against those who attack its treatment of the animal, the zoo said.

It said that over the years, many activists had defamed the zoo, which occupies the sixth and seventh floors of the department store building. Some had published photos of Bua Noi in her cage on the seventh floor, which the zoo said misrepresented its treatment of the animal.

Some wildlife conservationists had told school children that Bua Noi was tormented and asked them to support the “Free Bua Noi” movement, the zoo said.

Bua Noi was in the spotlight again last October when reports said that the government wanted to buy the ape for 30 million baht and relocate her to Germany, where she was born in 1990. Pata denied the reports and said Bua Noi was not for sale.

Vocabulary

  • activists (noun): people who take part in activities that are intended to achieve political or social change, especially someone who is a member of an organisation - นักกิจกรรม
  • ape (noun): a large animal like a monkey, with no tail - ลิงไม่มีหาง
  • cage (noun): a container made of wire or metal bars and usually used for keeping birds or animals in - กรง
  • conservationist: a person who takes an active part in the protection of the environment - นักอนุรักษ์ธรรมชาติ
  • criticism: comments that show that you think something is wrong or bad - การวิจารณ์
  • defame: to say or write something bad about someone that is not true and makes other people have a bad opinion of them - ทำลายชื่อเสียง
  • denied (verb): said that something is not true or did not happen - ปฏิเสธ
  • graffiti: words or pictures drawn on walls in public places - การวาดภาพหรือเขียนบนกำแพงในที่สาธารณะ
  • hunt (verb): to look for a person or animal in order to catch them or harm them; to chase wild animals or birds in order to catch or kill them for food, sport or to make money - ตามหา, ล่า
  • legal action: the process of going to court to have something decided officially by law -
  • misrepresentation: a false or incorrect account or description of something -
  • relocate: to move someone or something to another place - โยกย้ายประชาชนออกจากบริเวณ
  • spotlight (noun): the centre of public attention - จุดสนใจของผู้คน, เป็นที่สนใจ
  • torment: to make somebody suffer very much - ทารุณ, รบกวน, ทำให้รำคาญ
  • treatment: a way of behaving towards or dealing with a person or thing - การปฏิบัติ
  • unfair (adj): actions that are not acceptable and appropriate - ซึ่งไม่ยุติธรรม
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