Recently, we shared a story about Cher’s successful campaign to free Kaavan, “the world’s loneliest elephant,” from a life of misery in a controversial Pakistani zoo. Now, the singer is determined to save Bua Noi, a lonely gorilla that has spent almost all her life behind bars at a shopping mall in Bangkok.
The gorilla arrived in Thailand more than 30 years ago and has since spent her life in an enclosure at the Pata zoo in Thailand. Located at the top of a department store, the private zoo has long been criticized by animal welfare activists for its dismal conditions.
Teaming up with campaigners calling for the gorilla’s release, Cher reached out to Thailand’s environment minister to whom she wrote a letter, expressing “deep concern” over Bua Noi’s living conditions. According to activists, the gorilla’s unnatural enclosure at the mall zoo lacks any type of physical or mental stimulation.
Free the Wild, the animal charity Cher co-founded, has offered to fund the transfer of the gorilla to a sanctuary in Congo where she would be able to live in a peaceful natural environment and socialize with other primates.
On Twitter, Cher called upon the “good people of Bangkok” to help her “stop the torturing of innocent animals.”
Hopefully, the calls of Cher and the other activists are heard so Bua Noi gets to live a healthier and happier life.
