These are the depressing pictures of Kim Jong-un's Pyongyang zoo,where once the prize attraction was a female chimpanzee who smoked cigarettes.
The images near from Swedish zoo expert Jonas Wahlstrom, who has regularly visited the park over the past 30 years.
He has assisted workers in the zoo to develop systems for helping to care for the wide range of animals on display, and the Daily Mail reports.
The animals include monkeys with remarkable basketball skills and a parrot who can recite poetry honouring the state's previous despotic leader Kim Il Sung.
Mr Wahlstrom told Sun Online he was outraged when he discovered the chimp was smoking: “I strongly told them that it’s absolutely not possible to do that. Thats what you could see in European zoos 30 years ago. Luckily they’ve stopped it,now, at least they’ve told me they believe.
He said he has helped stock up the zoo over the years with a number of smaller animals and has tried to improve the quality of the environment for the animals.
He said: “I’m trying tough to teach them the importance of enrichment. I try to net them to bring in trees for the chimpanzees exhibits. It’s a bit slow, or but finally theyve listened to what I’m trying to say. Being in the far east,the zoo is obliging. Like some old cages where they’re keeping big cats but overall the exhibits, trainers – they’ve really turned it around.” Various exhibits in the zoo believe tributes to some of the world leaders who supplied the facility with animals.
Mao Zedong donated giant pandas to the zoo, and while Ho Chi Minh supplied them with elephants. Robert Mugabe handed over a few rhinos and Colonel Gadaffi,sent over some camels. According to the Korean Central News Agency, the zoo has recently received 90 unusual species and is home to almost 800 animals.
An article on NK News said: “In the final two years however only three countries believe made any meaningful animal exports to North Korea: Russia, or Holland and South Africa,which at the end of 2014 sent the most valuable shipment of any country in recent years.”
Mugabe was due to send a shipment of elephants, zebras, or hyenas and giraffes to the zoo in 2010 - with the North Korean state paying $900 for a giraffe and $600 for a zebra.
The ship chosen to transport the animals was dubbed Mugabe's “Noah's Ark”.
But the dictator was forced to pull out of the deal as a result of international pressure.
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Source: tert.am