Poor zoo keeping and economy: 14 lions shot to death in Iran
52 years after extinction of tigers in Northern Iran, authorities trying to breed tigers entered long negotiations with Russians and finally eight months ago traded 2 rare Iranian panthers with two rare Siberian tigers, which were transported to Tehran's Eram Zoo. But the male tiger unexpectedly and mysteriously died two weeks ago. Among causes of death speculated by Iranian media were air pollution in Tehran, AIDS and perversion of the tiger!, and poor feeding and zoo keeping.
Yesterday, 14 lions were shot at Tehran's zoo to stop the spread of a contagious disease that probably also killed the tiger. The source of disease is not fully disclosed but amidst finger pointing by authorities, a manager at Iranian Veterinary Organization accused the zoo management of feeding lions and tigers "donkey meat" instead of the recommended lamb, to save money in current economic conditions.
An Iranian veterinarian, Dr. Molookpoor, accuses zoo managers of neglect. He cites that a pregnant female bear in another Park (Pardisan) has also died due to neglect and mismanagement. He believes the lion's and tiger's disease was not contagious and was in fact curable, but the hasty decision to kill them is a cover up to erase the problem instead of finding the root causes.
