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It sounds like the zoo is badly designed and maintained from a physical structures point of view. The enclosures are inadequate and unsuitable. They are not safe for the animals or people.
It also sounds like there is no one working there who has much animal knowledge. They certainly should not have had large cats of any kind. Breeding them when they had no room for the offspring was totally irresponsible.
They clearly couldn't afford the right food for the animals they had. Some animals require very specialized diets. I doubt they even know what those diets should be.
How did he get his first licence and why did this go on so long? All zoos have some animal deaths. They just don't have such extreme numbers. They had an animal death every 2 or 3 days. Did no one consider that a problem? Did no one inspect the zoo and check its records. Did it keep records?
When the keeper was killed there should have been some serious inspections and questioning of practices. It is a bad situation, but it is worse that this has been going on for years.
![[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rtQnRVnpHuw/Upv4HXYM20I/AAAAAAAAAqo/K5MmSTvkZdA/w296-h229-p-no/IMG_9091.JPG)
Catherine
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Judging by the second BBC article, it would seem that the zoo was inspected a couple of times. Fines were given following prosecutions, but the terrible conditions continued. The best thing would be for the zoo to be close permanently, even though the zoo owner has volunteered to step away from its management.
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03-08-2017, 10:02 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-08-2017, 10:02 AM by Tobi.)
I wonder if even new management would solve the issues here.
Zoos can be bad places for animals. Not all of course, and there are some which are run intelligently with help for endangered species in mind...but many like this are just bad places.
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This is more than a bad management problem. The zoo is poorly built and it lacks staff trained well enough to care for the animals they have.
These animals have very special needs. Their enclosures need to be safe, but they also need to meet the animals needs. Each species has its own nutritional needs. Big well run zoos work hard to refine the diets of their animals. They have trained nutritionists and biologists and they access to a lot of different foods.
This zoo lacked the money to do what is right. I think the fines must have made things worse. Money being paid for fines was not being spent on the animals.
Big zoos have vets on staff. This zoo couldn't afford a vet and probably didn't have access to a vet who would know what to do anyhow.
It is sad that they let so many animals die. They did not even know how to stop over breeding. They lacked the space to separate males and females and they didn't have the right conditions for females to raise their young. The whole thing is very sad. I just hope they can find places that will take the animals and let them live comfortably.
Catherine
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Gosh! The situation was much worse than I knew previously. Closure is essential.
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The whole thing is shocking. I don't think there is any way to fix it. Sometimes things need to be shut down for the good of all involved.
Catherine
