Inside the 'Zoo from Hell': A schoolboy kicks a frightened monkey's tiny metal cage as a crocodile languishes in a concrete pool of its own urine, fed on dead dogs

• Yuk Chin Mini Zoo, Tawau, is notorious for its treatment of abused animals
• Monkeys, kept in in lonely metal cages, are taunted by groups of children
• The zoo's crocodile sits motionless in stagnant green pond of its own urine
• A tree fell on the python house, allowing the snakes to escape. One got into the crocodile pit and was eaten alive
• Dubbed the 'Zoo from Hell', a charity spokesman said: ‘I wept when I saw what was going on there.'

By Richard Shears for MailOnline

Published: 05:43 EST, 15 September 2015 | Updated: 20:15 EST, 15 September 2015

A schoolboy laughs as he kicks out at a frightened monkey peering out from behind a wire cage, sending the animal screeching backwards in terror.

The boy moved from cage to cage, his friends giggling and taking photos on mobile phones, as he lashes out at other animals before a younger boy joined in to more laughter.

This is the distressing daily routine at what one wildlife expert called ‘the Zoo From Hell’, Borneo's Yuk Chin Mini Zoo - a shabby maze of metal cages where tortured animals are rarely fed.

It is here where a crocodile, living in a pond in its own urine, is occasionally tossed dead dogs and cats to eat.

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Frightened: A young boy taunts the frightened monkey as he kicks the animals metal cage

Heartbreaking: A crocodile is kept in a claustrophobic concrete pool of its own stagnant urine. Investigators said the starving animal is occasionally tossed a dead dog or cat to eat and is only fed three times a week   

A large bird, a cassowary, hobbles around its confined quarters with what appears to be a broken leg while other large birds struggle to find enough room to spread their wings. A mongoose peers out through the wire with its one good eye.

‘I wept when I saw what was going on there,’ said Upreshpal Singh, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Friends of the Orangutans, whose devoted work also takes in the care of other animals.

‘This is animal torture of the worst kind because to keep them locked up in filthy conditions, getting fed only when someone feels like it, is heartbreaking and a disgrace. It’s the worst zoo I’ve come across.

‘From my investigations I’ve learned that many animals have died here due to total lack of care and attention. Of course, the people running it do all they can to hush up these terrible facts.’

Mr Singh, who had been tipped off about conditions at the dilapidated zoo, in Tawau, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, was so disturbed at seeing barren cages and hungry animals that he took himself off to a local market and purchased bags of fruit, meat and fish from his own pocket.

Then he moved from cage to cage pushing the food through the wire. A monkey grabbed at the neck of a water bottle Mr Singh had offered it and wouldn’t let go until it had consumed most of the contents.

Intimidating: A schoolboy kicks the terrified monkey's metal cage just for laughs and none of the staff from Borneo's 'Zoo from Hell' is on hand to stop them

Dehydrated: When this thirsty monkey was offered a bottle of water to drink by Upreshpal Singh, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Friends of the Orangutans , he wouldn't let go until he had drained the entire bottle 

‘It seemed like the birds and animals had never been fed,’ said Mr Singh. ‘They snatched at the food and looked for more. The crocodiles were particularly hungry and I’m glad I bought them chicken to eat.

‘I’ve learned that the animals are fed just two or three times a week and each meal is never enough.

‘Feeding them shouldn’t be my responsibility and nor should I have to be on hand to try to stop people tormenting the animals. But the message doesn’t get through that zoos like this aren’t meant to be places where animals are put on display so that kids can kick at them or throw rubbish at them.’

Mr Singh, who was responsible for finding a new home for Katarina, the world’s loneliest orang-utan last year and whose story was told in MailOnLine, learned that at the Tawau Zoo on one occasion a tree fell on the ‘snake house’ - but when a number of pythons escaped ‘no-one bothered to look for them'. 

‘One snake did end up in the crocodile enclosure and of course it was quickly eaten. There are no pythons left in the zoo any more and perhaps that’s a good thing as hopefully they have found their way into greener pastures.’ 

Cramped: Like many of the animals at Borneo's Yuk Chin Mini Zoo, in Tawau, the monkeys are kept in tiny metal cages barely big enough to fit them

Solitary: A lonely otter is kept at the cruel zoo on his own in a bleak cage with a disgusting pool to swim in. Animal campaigner Upreshpal Singh told MailOnline:  ‘It seemed like the animals had never been fed.’

That cannot be said for the monkeys that peer out from their small, barren, unclean cages at the surrounding trees. They tear at the wire encasing them, making holes that aren’t big enough to escape through.

‘Water is very much an afterthought for 100 per cent of the animals,’ said Mr Singh. ‘A few times a week a caretaker wanders around filling up the pots with a hose pipe aimed through the wire. There’s a “don’t care” attitude about the entire place.’ 

The zoo is run by the management of an adjoining school, where a senior official told Mr Singh today that the zoo’s purpose is to educate children about the animals.

‘Sometimes children from other schools are brought here so they can learn about the animals,’ said the official.

But Mr Singh said the official was evasive when asked the last time the zoo had been inspected.

He added: ‘They told me that food and water is provided every day, which is clearly untrue.'

‘I spoke to the caretaker and he said they were fed only two or three times a week.’

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