11 more dead tigers discovered in northeastern Chinese zoo

Photo from Xinhua

We’ve mentioned that it’s been a bad year for tigers thus far, ironic since it is The Year of The Tiger, but it seems like every other week just piles on more sad tiger preservation news. At least 11 Siberian tigers were found starved to death in a zoo in Shenyang, northeastern China.

According to the Times, the owners of the zoo ran out of money and fed the predators just one or two chicken carcasses a day over the past few weeks:

Six of the tigers died recently on a single day at the privately owned Iceberg Animal Zoo in Shenyang, the Liaoshen Evening News reported.

The animals had been confined in small, wet cages, it said…

A zoo official said: “The zoo is in a financial crisis and we haven’t been able to provide the tigers with sufficient food for the last two years. An adult tiger eats about 20lb of meat a day, but the tigers here can barely get a chicken to quench their hunger every one or two days.”

The zoo first claimed that the eleven tigers, who had died over the past three months, were victims of China Daily:

“Many privately-owned zoos were under financial pressure, and most of them fail to feed the animals well,” said Liu…

As for regulating the privately-owned zoos, there were legal loopholes which made enforcement of the regulations impossible, said Liu.

“Wild Animal Protection Law” does not provide for any punishment for irresponsible zoo owners who abuse the animals.

In addition, “Property Law” stipulates that zoo owners have the right to keep animals and animal protection authorities have no right to interfere, said Liu.

Which means that until someone or something addresses these abuses, we’re probably going to hear even more about tiger deaths as the year drags on. After all, Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo still has a good 20 Siberians left. It’s funny – earlier, we discussed the threat against wild tigers, who knew that the captured ones were in just as much trouble?