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When a nation is plagued by hard times, people aren’t the only ones to suffer. Venezuela’s poor economy, triggered by a drop in the price of oil, has led people as well as zoo animals to go hungry. About 50 animals at Venezuela’s Caricuao Zoo have starved in the last six months due to the rising cost of food, caused by the nation’s economic downturn. Rabbits, tapirs, porcupines, pigs, and birds are among the fallen at the country’s northern zoo. Some went without food for two weeks. Facts of life.
Animals starving at Venezuela zoo
The National Parks Institute (INPARQUES), which oversees the country’s zoos, blames the shortages on the country’s economic crash, caused by a plummet in the price of oil (Venezuela is a major oil producer). The country can’t afford to import food, medicine, and other necessities, and inflation has caused prices to skyrocket.
“The story of the animals at Caricuao is a metaphor for Venezuelan suffering,” Marlene Sifontes, union leader for INPARQUES employees, tells Reuters.
Caricuao Zoo staffers have been feeding carnivorous lions and tigers diets of mango and pumpkin. They are also giving an elephant tropical fruit instead of hay. Other big cats are reportedly being fed slaughtered Thoroughbred horses from a nearby racetrack.
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Meanwhile, many Venezuelans go without food on a daily basis and wait in supermarket lines for hours. The nation’s starving economy has driven people to hunt dogs, cats, and pigeons for food. On Monday, visitors to a zoo in Caracas, the nation’s capital, reportedly stole a horse and butchered it for meat.
Moving Animals
Outside the capital, zoo administrators in the western state of Táchira have asked local businesses to donate fruit, vegetables, and meat to feed the animals. In May, three animals died at a zoo in the Paraguaná Peninsula, in northwestern Venezuela. Staff are now attempting to move 12 animals more than 420 miles (676 kilometers) south to a park in Mérida.
“If these zoos continue to operate after these animals are transferred and get new animals, [the suffering] could arise again,” Whitney says.
All animals in the country, bipedal or not, are suffering. And Venezuela isn’t the only place where animals have been hurt by a poor social climate.
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