A zoo in Kazakhstan’s business capital, Almaty, is facing mounting criticism about mistreatment of its animals since the agonizing death of a six-year old tigress called Kuralai.
Almaty zoo deputy director Agibai Azhibayev announced on May 8 that the tiger had died, although pictures of the emaciated and sore-ridden animal had circulated on social media for weeks before, sparking a wave of indignation.
Azhibayev said an autopsy would be carried out to establish the exact causes of Kuralai’s demise.
Zoo director Kanat Karimov said in 2015 that the tiger had been diagnosed with pneumonia and was being treated with anti-viral and anti-fungal drugs. But the cat’s condition deteriorated sharply at the start of this year, when she stopped eating and began to lose weight. Eventually, sores broke out all over Kuralai’s body and she grew so weak that she was unable to even stand up.
This state of affairs only became public knowledge after distressed zoo staff took photos and posted them online.
At the invitation of the zoo’s board of trustees, the chief veterinarian for Moscow zoo, Mikhail Alshinetsky, was eventually summoned to carry out a medical examination. His verdict was that all treatment was proving futile and recommended euthanizing the tiger. That advice was spurned by the Almaty zoo officials, however.
"That is his personal opinion, and we are seeing improvements in Kuralai’s wellbeing and are hoping we can cure her,” Azhibayev told KTK television station.
But the treatments being adopted by the Almaty zoo have appalled many animal lovers, who have accused the zoo’s management of cruelty.
One former zoo employee, Gani Shokotaeva, told KTK that the management did not call on vets to treat Kuralai, but instead turned to shamans, who proceeded to employ inhumane methods that only intensified the tiger’s suffering.
That accusation was firmly denied by a spokesman for the zoo, who said that the tiger received treatment only from qualified veterinarians.
But Kuralai’s plight appears to be far from unique.
The head of the zoo board of trustees, Raimbek Batalov, told at a recent press conference of other diseases afflicting the zoo’s animals. Another tiger has begun gnawing its own tail, peeling off its fur and has at times been seized by convulsions, Batalov said. And there is more: a bearded vulture has a broken wing; a fox has gnawed off its own paw; and a polar bear has lesions to its head and is suffering from problems with its teeth. Last year, a chimpanzee died prematurely at the zoo, as did six snow leopards, but all this was kept from the public.
Batalov said that the zoo has recently been inundated with letters from international animal groups calling the management’s competence into question.
By all appearances, management of the zoo will now pass to Batalov, who is chairman of the Raimbek Group holding company.
“It is painful to see the zoo in its current state. I have the chance to change the situation for the better,” Batalov said in remarks quoted by Informburo.kz.
He will certainly have his work cut out. Almaty zoo adopts a profoundly antiquated approach toward its charges, which are often kept in cramped and unsanitary conditions. Visitors are often hardly much better and can often be seen throwing unsuitable food or wrappers into the enclosures.
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