Inside the ‘zoo of death’, another animal perishes A rare Sumatran tiger is the latest victim at a notorious Indonesian animal enclosure known as the “zoo of death”. The death has […]

A rare Sumatran tiger is the latest victim at a notorious Indonesian animal enclosure known as the “zoo of death”.

The death has led wildlife activists to call for an overhaul of the management at East Java’s Surabaya Zoo, the location of a string of tragic deaths in recent years.

Two years ago, an African lion was found hanging in its cage and a dead giraffe was found with around 20kg of plastic in its stomach.

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In 2013, a tiger named Melani was removed from the zoo after her health declined from eating contaminated meat. But she died a year later.

Peta has labelled the zoo as “hell on Earth for animals.”

‘Animals have no choice over their miserable lives’

The activists have criticised the care standards at the zoo, claiming that more than 2,000 animals are housed in cramped cages. This led to the death of more than 40 Komodo dragons after they fought each other, Reuters reported.

Zoo keepers have blamed the deaths on natural causes. But the activists are not so sure and the death of the Sumatran tiger in April remains unexplained.

Kirsty Henderson, Peta’s campaigns coordinator, told i: “The deaths at Surabaya Zoo represent an extreme level of neglect and suffering. “Animals in zoos have no choice at all over their miserable lives. A life in captivity in any zoo is simply not a life at all for any animal. “The whole zoo absolutely needs to be closed down. Although improvements would be good for the animals who are imprisoned there right now.”

Zoo should be closed

Peta had previously launched a petition to close Surabaya Zoo. It has more than 214,000 supporters.

Petrus Riski, of the Indonesian Wildlife Communication Forum, said: “[The zoo needs] to make an effort to ease the overpopulation of animals. It can be done by sending them to other conservative institutes.”

Aschta Boestani Tajudin, the director of Surabaya Zoo, said efforts to improve conditions were being affected by bureaucracy at the zoo, but added: ” I hope in three to four months from now we can finally solve the problem.”