Overview
- The four-day celebration kicked off July 10 with lectures on Moo Deng’s cheekiness, meet-and-greets with celebrities, mascot parades and an auction of her memorabilia.
- A skincare beautician sponsored Moo Deng’s fruit-festooned birthday cake with a 100,000-baht donation to a wildlife conservation fund.
- Khao Kheow Open Zoo is granting free admission to all visitors aged 12 and under throughout the festival.
- Moo Deng’s viral debut in July 2024 helped triple zoo attendance to nearly 600,000 last year and spawned branded merchandise and endorsement deals.
- Organizers aim to turn her core fan base of around five million—despite a peak in online searches last September—into advocates for the roughly 2,500 remaining pygmy hippos in the wild.