Al Riyadh newspaper reported in 2007 that the zoo and the animals within are in miserable state and large-scale mismanagement by officials have led to a sharp decline in number of visitors.[9] The case of the zoo was brought forward to the then Mayor of Riyadh, Prince Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf Muqrin al-Saud, who ordered an all-out rehabilitation of the zoo in 2008.[10] For long visitors above the age of 12 were barred from entering the zoo, to this, a frustrated Saudi national published a column in the Al Eqtisadiah newspaper dated 21 June 2007 (6/22/1428 Hijri), in which he asked Riyadh Municipality to review the rule and allow family visitors into the premises of the zoo.