Pyongyang Central Zoo: When Modernization Didn't Help (12 photos + 3 videos)
North Korea, a country that is cut off from the rest of the world, is home to one of the most famous zoos in the world, the Pyongyang Central Zoo. Built in 1959 by order of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, it houses over 5,000 animals, but their living conditions are alarming. 
According to reports, there have been numerous cases of animal abuse at this zoo.
In 2006, a shocking film called "Fighting Animals" was released, in which animals, including some endangered species, were forced to fight each other to the death.
Experts believe that for the filming of this "documentary", zookeepers deliberately put different animals in the same cages to provoke them into fighting.
A heartbreaking photo from 2018 shows a tigress trying to bring her stillborn cub back to life
The situation at the Pyongyang Central Zoo has not improved in the years since. In 2018, photos emerged of tigers in a deplorable state, with stillborn cubs, and a chimpanzee named Azalea who became addicted to smoking - the animal was specially trained to light a cigarette and smoke. She consumed up to a pack a day.
Female chimpanzee Azalea lights a cigarette at a zoo in Pyongyang
However, the trainers claimed that it was "not a drag."
Despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordering the zoo's crumbling infrastructure to be repaired and upgraded in 2016, much of the money has been spent on decorative features, such as the impressive tiger head sculpture at the entrance to the zoo.
The animals are, unfortunately, still kept in tiny concrete enclosures. They are deprived of proper care and living conditions.
This chimpanzee looks dejectedly from his enclosure, which seems to lack trees, at the infamous Pyongyang Zoo
Some of them, like these enclosures, are home to several breeds of dogs - animals that you wouldn't normally see in zoo
The grass has turned yellow because it is very dry in the park
An elephant wanders through shallow water at the zoo
A camel is kept at one place while visitors take pictures of the animal
Numerous bears are kept in a deserted area
Kim Jong-un looks at bear cubs at the zoo
This is a clear example of how some zoos can become places of animal cruelty. Despite efforts to modernize, the conditions of animals at the Pyongyang Central Zoo continue to raise concerns and condemnation from animal rights activists around the world.
