A video posted on Facebook by Pedro Llanes shows the current state of the micro zoo in Colón, Matanzas: completely empty cages covered in grass, accumulated garbage, and crumbling walls where animals once lived that several generations of Cubans visited as a family recreational space.
"How can something that once was so beautiful be destroyed in this way? What looks like it was taken from a horror movie is what used to be a zoo. The weeds and trash bins are what currently decorate this place," says Llanes during the tour.
The man pointed out that the cages are completely empty, something that, in part, made him happy. "The hunger those animals experienced, I could see how it was slowly consuming them," he emphasized.
The video has accumulated over 73,600 views.
Llanes laments the state of a place that brought joy to thousands of people years ago: "This is the reality of a system that does not work. This is how the zoo is, this is how the people are, this is how the streets are, and this is how life is. May God bless and free Cuba."
The current situation of the Colón Zoo is the result of years of neglect and poor management.
In August, Daylin Cardona, from the Huellas de Amor Project, reported on Facebook that her organization had been sending photos of the dire situation of the animals to the Ministry of Agriculture in Matanzas for six months, and that the only response from the authorities had been to close the facility, but the animals remained there.
"They informed us that the two lions killed each other. They tore each other apart. Do you know what it's like to know they killed each other because there were no conditions to separate them? One against the other! Like gladiators! In their own filth! And both are dead. Both. Because no one did anything," he wrote.
The activist Adriana Piña Herrera, who documented the state of the zoo for eight months with photos, testimonies, and an official complaint, was equally firm: "The closure was a temporary solution. A signature. A 'that’s it.' But the animals didn’t understand paperwork. They understood hunger and cages," she said on Facebook.
In December 2025, activists were already reporting the inhumane conditions of the facility, describing the cages as "cells for slow torture." The Municipal Ministry of Agriculture then responded that it did not have the authority to demand changes.
The pattern repeats throughout Cuba. In August, a lion killed another in Las Tunas after more than 13 days without receiving meat, and the provincial government acknowledged the events, labeling them as "unacceptable."
That same month, new reports warned of extreme malnutrition in the lions of Watkin Park in Matanzas. The Cárdenas zoo, also in Matanzas, is now a field of rubble with land divided for housing.
Cuba has had Decree-Law No. 31 on Animal Welfare since 2021, but activists point out that its implementation in state facilities has been virtually nonexistent.
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