FIFTY ANIMALS STARVED TO DEATH IN VENEZUELAN ZOO
Fdeaths were due to a lack of food, but state prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deaths of ‘various species of wildlife’ at the zoo.
President Nicolas Maduro blames the country’s problems on an ‘economic war’ waged by local opponents and the United States.
His critics say heavy reliance on oil, the price of which has fallen steeply, and unsustainable economic policy are to blame.
As with all shortages in Venezuela, the situation for zoos is felt most keenly outside the capital, though wardens are looking for ways to keep animals alive.
In La Laguna, a park in the western state of Tachira, administrators said they had to seek donations from local businesses to obtain fruit, vegetables and meat for the starving animals.
‘We are doing all that is humanly possible to ensure the zoo continues to function,’ said Oslander Montoya, an accountant for the local municipality which handles funding for the zoo.
Three animals died in May at a zoo in Paraguana, on the northwestern Falcon peninsula, the director said.
Staff there are planning to move a dozen animals, including vulnerable spectacled bears, to another park in the Andean state of Merida.
The zoo’s six bears are currently eating just half of their required 16 kilograms (35.2 pounds) of food every day.
The fatalities at the Caricuao zoo in Caracas include Vietnamese pigs, tapirs, rabbits and birds, some of whom had not been fed for two weeks