Dubai Zoo

rdf:langString Dubai Zoo

rdf:langString Dubai Zoo

rdf:langString Dubai Zoo (Arabic: حديقة حيوان دبي) was a 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) zoo located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.It was originally built in 1967 by a Dubai resident when Sheikh Rashid bin Maktoum, the late Ruler of Dubai, permitted Otto J. Bulart to build a zoo on a 2-hectare (4.9-acre) plot in Jumeirah. It is still the oldest zoo in the Arabian Peninsula. It was considered a Dubai landmark in the late 1960s as it indicated the "town's end". In 1971 the management of the Dubai Zoo was taken over by the Dubai Municipality. During the first couple of years of its existence, the Dubai Zoo housed only a few animals like the big cats, monkeys and hoofed-animals. There was also a small aquarium with some fishes and reptiles. From May 1986 to May 1989, a part of the zoo was redesigned and rebuilt. From June 1989 to the present there has been constant re-designing and renovation. Dubai zoo is the first Arabian zoo to breed the rare chimpanzee and the Arabian or Gordon's wildcat (Felis silvestris gordoni). In recent years, the Dubai Zoo has come under fire for the conditions in which its animals are housed. Animal rights activists and even hotels and tourist websites encourage the boycotting of the facility. Cages in which the animals are trapped were reportedly so small that the animals can barely move. The zoo has closed since November 2017 and all animals were relocated to the new Dubai Safari Park. They no longer live in cages and have an open habitat with a lot more space to move around.