Himeji City Zoo — Attraction in Himeji

After the magnificent sight of the Himeji castle, visiting this zoo was a truly horrible experience. Animals are kept in small cages, sometimes shockingly small considering their size. 2 polar bears were kept in a cage no bigger then around 10x5 meters, with no water to swim in while it was around 25 degrees outside. One of the bears was listless while the other paced the cage endlessly, a type of behaviour I've seen in animal rights activist videos of animals that are kept cages that are too small. Two caracals were kept in what must have been 4x4 cages with concrete floors and some dead tree branches as "decoration". The badgers in the neighbouring cage both had large patches of fur missing and also displayed the repetitive pacing behaviour. The most heartbreaking were the two lions and the two bears that, for some reason, weren't allowed out into their (already small) cage, but were kept in an even smaller kind of holding cage adjacent to the larger one. It couldn't have been larger than a couple of square meters, and the bears literally took up half the cage just with their presence. It was extremely sad to see all of these animals (and the kangaroos, and the lemurs, and the hippo, and the elephant, the list goes on and on) confined to what was very obviously, to us in any case, far too little space.

It is hard to believe this zoo exists in Japan, the third largest economy in the world and a country that is otherwise supremely civilized. It is also hard to believe that this zoo is not in violation of any animal welfare laws. Our memories of the fantastic castle will be forever tainted by the toughts of this wretched home for those poor creatures.

In short, I would strongly advise people not to visit this zoo, and instead lodge a complaint with its management and the Himeji city council about the conditions under which its...

If I could choose zero star, I would. The zookeeper looks nice and I believe they are doing their best, BUT the environment is NOT adequate for those animals!!!! Is ok to keep goats and pigs in a farm environment, BUT you cannot keep a Brown Bear alone in a cage, in fact it was showing stereotypical moves that means it was depressed and its natural need are not satisfied!!! It was going up and down the cage always walking the same path like a prisoner , cause it actually is!!!! It also had a tumore pending from its belly. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU KEEP ANIMALS!!! If you don’t have the space to host those kind of animals such as giraffe , zebra, lions, seals (their pool was empty and definetly NOT deep enough for them!!) or penguin (same as the seals!!!) or camel (also has a tumor and leaves alone!!! Those are social animals!!! Who the heck is running this place???) , then don’t do it!!! For a country who believe in Shintoism and Buddhism (every creature has a soul, remember?!??) this is UNACCEPTABLE!!! It’s unacceptable for every place but from Japan I expected more!!! You have temples and shrine, peaceful place to restore the souls, and then you have THIS HELL?? The owner of this zoo should be ASHAMED!!!! Do something cause this is unacceptable!!! I am a vet nurse from Italy, I sure know what I am talking about. I haven’t see such a bad zoo in ages. Are you still in 1900???? Please don’t give money to this place. Hope you fail and close soon and the animas will go to a better...

One of the saddest and most disturbing places I’ve ever been to.

Despite being located next to the beautiful Himeji Castle, the Himeji Zoo felt much more like the setting of a horror game than a fun place for families/animal lovers. Many of the animals looked sick, lethargic, or mentally distressed. Some animals had tumors and strange growths on them, and mostly appeared motionless. Not that they even had very much room to move around in, the cages were tiny barren concrete cages, that appeared to hardly be cleaned. Food was just dumped onto the floor leaving it to be swarmed by flies and rot under the Japanese summer heat. Animals were left without water as well.

The brown bear in particular was haunting to witness. Thin, disheveled, pacing nonstop in a tiny enclosure, with what looked like a large tumor on its stomach and possibly foaming at the mouth. Clearly it was suffering from zoochosis, the other animals were no better. A lone macaw kept screeching hoarsely as if it was crying out for help.

The zoo grounds themselves were eerily empty, overgrown, and unkempt. The old rides appeared abandoned, and the entrance fee was shockingly low (250 円), which may hint at how underfunded/neglected this place is.

This zoo does not meet modern standards of animal care or welfare. I left feeling greatly disturbed, heartbroken and concerned for the animals still trapped there. Please think twice before supporting this facility, the animals...