A Zoo in a Shopping Mall?

“A zoo in a SHOPPING MALL?”  I knew that Japan was home to many quirky animal attractions like cat cafes and owl cafes, but when I heard about this particular collection, I immediately knew that I had to see it with my own eyes.  The name of this place is “Meccha sawareru doubutsuen” which basically means “zoo where you can touch a lot”, and it is located in the Pieri Moriyama shopping mall in Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture.

It really is located in a shopping mall.

The collection occupies about the same amount of floor space as a medium-sized restaurant or clothing store, and true to its name, this animal collection allows visitors a great deal of physical contact with many of the resident animals.  And although the animal species in this collection might have been chosen for their tolerance of human contact, the amount of contact that occurs here might very well exceed acceptable limits. 

The entrance looked similar to a typical pet shop.  There was a dwarf rabbit and various types of beetles for sale. 

The area immediately inside the entrance was crowded with dogs, rabbits, chicks, turtles, caged birds and even a small monkey.  Most of the “exhibits” were built to allow small children unfettered access to the animals. Predictably, small children end up handling the animals extensively – sometimes like toys.  I observed one little girl trying to see how many chicks she could carry at one time.

There were a number of birds and small animals in small cages.

The amount of space allowed to this goat was about equal to a king-sized bed.

The monkey constrained to this small cage was enough to tear at one’s heartstrings…

…especially when he tried to tear at my camera strap.

Proceeding to the inner part of the “zoo”, the area was decorated to resemble a jungle.

There was a Canadian wildcat.

This alligator had a small pool to himself.

The room below was about 4 meters long by about 3 meters wide and about 3 meters high.

 
It housed a young lion.

This 50-centimeter wide glass corridor allowed visitors to get very close to the lion.

Next to the lion, there was a Shoe-billed stork.  It stood so still that some visitors at first thought it to be a statue.

There were many animals in glass tanks.

Snakes

Turtles

Fish

Armadillo

Hedgehogs

There was a line-up of birds along a wooden wall.

Ropes attached to their legs kept them restrained to their wooden perches.

Other animals restrained by leashes: owl

Meerkat

Squirrel monkey

Sign warning that the squirrel monkey might bite.

The Freemovers

Some animals were not restrained, and I was amazed that they did not try to run away.  Perhaps they simply did not know in which direction they should run.

Bat

This wallaby hopped from area to area, doing its best to avoid humans.

Mara (Patagonian Cavy)

For me, visiting this collection turned out to be a strange experience.  Forget about immersion exhibits resembling natural habitats – entering this “zoo” was an immersion of a different kind.  So many visitors and so many animals crammed into such close quarters.  Petting zoo?  Pet shop?  I still don’t know how to best describe or classify this bizarre collection.

Admission for adults was 1000 yen.  Admission for children from 3 years old up to intermediate school was 600 yen.  Children 0, 1, and 2 years old were admitted free. 

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on August 17, 2015.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.)


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UPDATE: This facility closed on January 15, 2019

The shopping mall management apparently decided to end the contract for the space which the zoo occupied.  It is notable that there were considerable complaints about the facility from groups concerned about animal welfare.  Some of these concerns were detailed in a June 4, 2017 online news article (Huffpost Japan edition) which referenced an open wound on the head of the lion.