Less than a week after the death of beloved Salvadoran hippo Gustavito – who was savagely beaten up in his zoo enclosure – another zoo animal has been killed by humans.
A group of visitors at Belvedere Zoo in Tunis pelted a crocodile to death, authorities said on Wednesday, in what city officials denounced as “savage behavior.”
Pictures of the attack posted on Facebook by Tunis officials show the dead animal’s bloodied head alongside a paving slab and a large rock.
The stoning caused an internal hemorrhage which resulted in the crocodile’s death.
Amor Ennaifer, veterinarian at the zoo, deplored the act as “terrible”. “You cannot imagine what animals endure from some visitors,” zoo veterinarian told Agence France-Presse. “Citizens leave waste and plastic bags … They throw stones at lions and hippos.”
Ennaifer said the zoo has guards but that the responsibility to protect animals ultimately falls on visitors themselves.
“They are more than 150 species in the zoo,” he told AFP. “We can’t put a guard in front of each cage. People need to be aware of the need to respect animals.”
The brutal attack comes only days after the widely decried beating of a hippo with metal bars, rocks and knives in a zoo in Salvador. Gustavito, a favorite of park visitors, also died as a result of his injuries.
— With AFP
