SURABAYA, Indonesia — A gaunt, malnourished white tiger died of pneumonia in mid-February. A lion died of strangulation in January when its neck became entangled in the cable that opened and closed the door of its cage. More than 100 other animals have perished since last summer, including a rare Komodo dragon found dead in its enclosure last month.

The municipal zoo in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city after Jakarta, is one of the largest in Asia, with 3,450 animals on 37 acres of grounds. But Indonesian news outlets have taken to calling it the “zoo of death,” and it has become a lightning rod for zoo critics around the world, as an acrimonious debate unfolds here over who is responsible for the animal deaths.

Online petitions calling for the closing of the zoo have drawn hundreds of thousands of signatures from around the world. “The best option is to close this zoo,” said Ashley Fruno of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a group that opposes all zoos as inhumane. “There’s simply no reason why it needs to stay open.” The group has mobilized 80,000 volunteers around the world to write to the Indonesian government about the Surabaya Zoo.

Even people who see a positive role for zoos in protecting endangered species and educating the public have worries about the one in Surabaya. Other than zoos in war zones, it is “probably the worst case of a zoo and dying animals anywhere in the world in recent years,” said Sybelle Foxcroft, the director of Conservation and Environmental Education 4 Life, an Australian nonprofit group that has begun advising the Surabaya Zoo.