Malabon Zoo is a private sanctuary for animals located just off MacArthur Highway near Monumento, Caloocan. It has earned a reputation for having more animals than the much-larger Manila Zoo.
Having had my post-grad studies in Valenzuela, I've always been aware that there is a Malabon Zoo but it was only when my nieces and nephew was in town that I actually got to visit this zoo.
It's located close to Malabon Elementary School and the sign boards along the streets to the zoo were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction so we arrived at 10:00 am and paid the ₱100 entrance fee.
Cute sayings and quotes about life, love, even lyrics of songs like Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" dotted the various animal cages. It was nice that we were just in time for the feeding of the animals like the orangutans. It was fascinating to see these huge primates running around, being awkwardly cute.
The zoo also allows you to hold pythons for photo ops and my nephew Jian, nieces Mariel & Kee, and my brother-in-law Manoy Lito eagerly paid the ₱200 to get their pictures taken with the snakes.
My sister Maris, my friend Joy and I were a bit more apprehensive but much persuading and taunting by the kids left Joy and I no choice but to try it. I've always been grossed out by snakes, but honor was at stake, so I held one Burmese python for posterity's sake and it was not so bad. It helped that the snake was docile and not slimy at all.
The zoo also has a tiger cub named "Dionisia", and she was incredibly cute and playful. She's like a big cat jumping around and swatting our hands playfully. She got too energetic at one point and jumped off the table that the handler pulled on her tongue to quiet her up.
That was weird to see and we felt very bad for the tiger cub. She was just a baby and just playing around. The incident somewhat tainted our enjoyment of petting a real honest-to-goodness tiger cub. Sorry your tongue got hurt, dear Dionisia!
There was a grizzly bear in this zoo too. Though it looked quiet demented, just bouncing around, moving its huge head up and down. Maybe it's the stifling summer heat that was making him do that or the cramped cage, or both? Poor thing.
There were many adult tigers and I've always been fascinated by how smoothly they move. The crocodiles were amply represented as well. This zoo do have more animals than the Manila Zoo but I wish there were more space for them to move around.
I hope the well-intentioned Malabon Zoo people can transfer some of their animals some place with more room. I appreciate that it's privately-owned and it must cost the owner a pretty penny to keep them fed and clean but the place is a bit small. Maybe they can donate or lend some of the animals to Manila Zoo, God knows that zoo has the space.
Malabon Zoo & Aquarium
1 Governor Pascual Avenue
Potrero, Malabon
Tel: 3613083
