If you don't know about the Phuket Zoo you should get some background information: This zoo is under constant criticism for having less than awesome conditions for their animals.
They have been "busted" for providing elephant rides and shows as well as drugging tigers for the sake of photo ops with tourists. Neither of these things are illegal which is what makes it a grey area. I think that most people would identify with me when I say that this is animal cruelty and since it isn't illegal we can all just vote with our wallets and not go to places like that.
The Phuket Zoo still has a lot of visitors though (well, not now of course since the island is locked down) and there was some speculation about if the animals were even being looked after properly.
Recently a group of people jumped the fence and took some videos of the area including the pens where the narrators were attempting to showcase that the animals looked malnourished and even starving.
The four people then made a video that went kind of viral (around 100k views) and this of course was bad news for the Phuket Zoo, which already struggles as a business anyway. While the conditions of the pens and what not are certainly not world class, there wasn't a whole lot of evidence to suggest that the animals were in fact starving as they suggested.
The four were arrested for trespassing a few days after their story gained some traction on a global scale.
When the Thai authorities were called in to do an inspection of the zoo it really didn't surprise anyone when their official report ended up finding "nothing wrong" with what was going on inside the zoo and that there was plenty of food. This is the way that "investigations" happen in this country for the most part.
Now in my mind the 4 people probably had good intentions when they made this video but there is no denying that they had an objective when they entered. They had made up their minds that they were going to present the zoo in a negative light before they ever got inside. They also effed up royally when they set up a gofundme page to solicit donations for their cause once the video started to become popular.
Now it is going to be quite difficult for them to claim complete altruism in court.
I am not a fan of zoos in a general sense because if this global lockdown has taught all of us anything it's that being locked up, even when you have all your activities and food provided, is not a great way to live.
I mean honestly, how can you not have a problem with this?
There is no doubt that the owner of the Phuket Zoo has government officials in his pocket and anyone who sees the zoo or even videos of it can come to the conclusion very quickly that this place is pretty horrible, even by developing country zoo standards.
However, these activists really hurt their cause when they tried to benefit financially from the situation and because of that, the Phuket Zoo will quietly exit this situation without changing anything.