Aso Cuddly Dominion — Attraction in Aso

Absolutely heartbreaking.

Many of the animals didn’t have adequate space or even toys. Many of the bears were just in bare, concrete enclosures, with dirty moss floors. Many were just pacing like they were in prison. And hell, with the concrete everywhere they may as well have been in a prison.

Then there’s the cockatoo who didn’t even have a cage he could move in. The parrots tied to post, of which one was shivering and another had started plucking it’s feathers- a sign of unhappiness in birds.

Lastly, you can round out your visit seeing one lone capybara in an enclosure that’s like 90% water despite them being a social and mostly land based animal. Or this sad emaciated pony. Or the sun bear cubs which have been taken from their moms to roam around a tiny little box with just a literal kitchen pot of water and no toys or anything.

I want to believe the employees mean well here but I feel so bad for these animals. Had I seen this pictures I never would’ve come and this place needs serious work… Maybe if they had allocated more money to building animal pens then buying a helicopter or building a pagoda garden the animals would have a better quality of life. If you love animals please don’t go here.

Plain and simple, this is animal abuse. Can you imagine living on hard concrete day and night, your entire life, with nothing to keep you busy? In a tiny area with no...

When approaching, the entry building looks nice and modern, but after entry into the zoo territory most buildings look old and worn down. Many of the animals you are not supposed to touch are placed in ways where they are easy to reach out to and pet, we didn’t do that but we have seen other people do exactly that. A lot of things and activities require additional payment on site and the payment methods are often very confusing. Some of the animals like the bears are kept in pretty dirty and uncared for enclosures. Those same bears and some of other animals look sick, unfed and dirty. The animals actually allowed to touch and pet are afraid and annoyed by people visiting, for those same animals there are no workers to control how the visitors act with the animals, that caused a lot of those animals to be treated badly by other visitors right in front of our eyes. Some of the animals don’t look as bad as the others, but that doesn’t make the overall experience any better. When we have visited the zoo it was cloudy, but in sunny weather there is no place to hide from the sun and heat. The only beautiful thing was the recreation of a traditional Japanese Pagoda in the middle of an artificial pond.

Don’t ever visit this zoo, all you do is pay them money for this terrible experience! Instead visit the hiking trails around the volcano, they are much more interesting and really...

Most animals, especially the bears, are kept in conditions other countries use to torture their political prisoners. The bears live in bare concret pits with little or in most cases no entertainment whatsoever and very limited space. For pictures of the dreadful enclosures, I recommend Laurie’s comment below. Alpacas are kept alone even though they are group animals that need their like around them.

The only animals that live in a condition that resembles dignity are the cats and dogs whom you can pet within certain time slots. But some are in mediocre condition and are herded by the attendants to approach the guests. Their need for privacy does not always seem to be respected. Only the goats seemd pretty happy.

All in all a very saddening visit. To be honest, the visit made us angry and it spoiled an otherwise wonderful day around Mount Aso.

We invite the managers of this insititution to live in the small bear enclosures for some time. (Well, of course without the bears being there at the same time. We don‘t want them to be eaten But to experience the conditions themselves) Maybe this would...