Indonesian Zoo under fire after giraffe dies with plastic in his stomach.
A giraffe at an Indonesian zoo died with a beachball-sized wad of plastic food wrappers in its stomach, sparking concerns about the conditions at the sanctuary.
Surabaya Zoo, which has been branded the ‘nightmare zoo’ by many newspapers, is also home to emaciated tigers and 108 pelicans packed so tightly, they cannot spread their wings without hitting one another.
The 30-year-old giraffe, known as ‘Kliwon’, was sick for several days before dying early last month, with an 18-kilogram (40 pound) ball of plastic in his stomach.
According to reports, the animal had been eating litter and trash thrown into his pen for years.
The zoo, which was set up a centaury ago, is said to be tainted with uncontrolled breeding, a lack of funding for animal welfare and suspicions that the organisation’s staff are trafficking wildlife illegally.
Rare species such as Komodo dragons and endangered animals, including orang-utans, sit in unsanitary cages and living on peanuts thrown over the fence by visitors.
Surabaya Zoo was heavily criticised two years ago after reports showed that 25 of its 4,000 animals were dying prematurely every month.
The government appointed experienced zookeeper Tony Samampouw to take over and bring the immortality rate down.
However he struggled, with minor success, to bring the deaths down to 15 per month.
Critics say that with the entrance fees being less than £1.50 per person, there is not enough money to care for the animals, with even less to spend on improving the zoo’s facilities.
Problems concerning overcrowding are proving difficult to tackle, as contraceptives for animals are too expensive and facilities to separate males from females are lacking.
