“Upon meeting other mothers there, I was also told to avoid the first bird enclosure since they often see numerous rats running along,” she expressed.

“Is this the best we can do? Awareness needs to be raised as we have fewer and fewer places to take our kids,” she appealed.

“What a shame.”

Apart from spotting rats and having the majority of the playing area covered in plastic, she also expressed that the duck pond had a disgusting green colour.

This is not the first time the state of the petting farm has received criticism, with photos emerging earlier this year showing brown and yellow murky water.

Lovin Malta reached out to Parks Malta for a comment on the matter. 

“Earlier this year when you enquired about the situation of the KOI pond, we were installing a new circulating pump system to better the circulation, whilst oxygenating the water pond. We had instant results at the time once this pump was in place with clear water and fish made more visible to the public,” a representative told Lovin Malta.

“Because of heavy direct sunlight, the activity of microorganisms increases, with algae being formed as evidenced by a greenish surface in the photos. To this end, we are in the process of procuring adequate filtration to further better the state of the pond. Reference to the foaming particles which are occasionally visible on the surface of the water, this is due to the mating process of the koi fish.”

“With regards to the duck pond, this is more complicated as water turns greener much faster due to excretion of nitrogen from duck faeces that accelerates the formation of algae. Such organic material makes it more difficult to find a possible filtration that minimizes the possibility of any clogging of the filtration system.”

“For this reason, Parks Malta employees clean this pond at least two times weekly to mitigate the presented situation,” they concluded.

What do you make of this situation?