The national zoo is being swamped with hundreds of exotic pets abandoned at its gates after their owners lose interest.

From the common to the bizarre, Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur has received almost 1,000 unwanted pets since 1996, director Mohamad Ngah told the New Straits Times.

"Sometimes people simply drop the animal off at the gate and run off," he said, adding that they included threatened species and animals which turned out not to be as tame as their owners expected.

Left in bad shape

Exotic pets are popular in Malaysia, and Mohamad blamed unscrupulous retailers for selling unsuitable wildlife to the general public.

"If we want to solve this problem, we must look into the pet industry," he said.

Mohamad said the abandoned pets were sometimes left in bad shape, malnourished and requiring long stays in hospital. Some did not survive.

Among the pets dumped at the zoo were venomous cobras and vipers, felines including leopard cats, reticulated pythons, iguanas and rodents like giant black squirrels.