Dubai: Dubai Zoo is packed to the rafters with species that have been taken from ignorant travellers and animal traffickers.

What started out as a small collection of animals in the 1980s has grown to a full-blown menagerie with up to 90 per cent of the species rescued from the illegal animal trade.

The residential-placed zoo attracts fans and activists in equal numbers due to the seemingly cramped cages.

In comments made earlier, a former official at the zoo had not denied the confined conditions of the now iconic attraction.

He had said he would have liked to be able to refuse animals from being placed in the zoo, but doing so could result in the release of wild and potentially dangerous creatures in neighbourhood parks once they are unwanted by their owners. The zoo has stopped accepting animals since. Zoo officials refrained from commenting on the issue.

Too late

In 2010, the zoo received at least a dozen juvenile baboons confiscated by customs. A decade ago cheetahs and wild cats were left on their doorstep by owners who realised too late that wild cats are not pets.

The international animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals staged a two-person protest in July last year to raise awareness of animal rights issues in the Middle East and educate the public.

Dressed like convicts with chimp masks, Jason Baker, Director of Peta for the Asia-Pacific region, and Ashkey Fruno, a senior campaigner, marched down Jumeirah Beach Road the length of the zoo enclosure.

"[Dubai Zoo is] one of the worst I've ever seen. You can smell it from a block away — zoos don't usually smell that bad," Baker told Gulf News at the time.

He had visited the zoo but does not know where the animals come from.

"The pens are tiny and the animals have just concrete to live on. Most of the animals belong in temperate climates but here they pant all day in 50 degree Celsius heat," he said.

"Meeting with zoo sup-ervisors rarely changes anything. They know how bad the conditions are. We don't want the zoo to get bigger land because that would lead to more animals — we just want people to realise zoos are not helping endangered animals."

Home to endangered

The zoo is also home to some of the animals that are on the list of endangered species such as barbary sheep, water buck, Siberian and Bengal tigers and Arabian wolves.

The Arabian species in the zoo include gazelles, caracals, foxes, wolves, hyenas, wildcats, flamingos, cormorants, herons, gulls, eagles, buzzards, vultures, snakes, skunks and lizards.

Featured in its large aviary are regional birds of prey. Scimitar-horned Oryx, gorillas and chimpanzees are some of the inmates taken care of by the zoo authorities. The bird group consists of golden eagles, parrots and ostriches.