Starving Venezuelans have broken into a zoo and slaughtered a horse for its meat as a crippling economic crisis has left thousands without food.

It is believed several people forced their way into Caricuao Zoo in Caracas and busted the stallion's pen before butchering it.

It comes as Venuzuela is in the grip of a severe economic crisis which has led to food shortages and looting in some areas.

State prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deaths of 'various species of wildlife' at the zoo

According to Fusion.net, prosecutors say the horse was the only one of its kind in the zoo, before it was killed.

It is thought that only its head and ribs were left behind in a pile for the zookepers to find the next morning.

However, it is not the first instance of animals being taken from the zoo, with Vietnamese pigs and sheep also reportedly stolen.

Meanwhile, fifty animals have died of hunger in the zoo because of the chronic shortage of food.

The fatalities have included Vietnamese pigs, tapirs, rabbits and birds, some of whom had not been fed for two weeks.

In other cities in the country, zoos are reported to be in a worse situation, forced to ask for donations of fruit, vegetables and meat from local businesses.

Marlene Sifontes, 52, union leader for employees in the state parks, said: 'The story of the animals at Caricuao is a metaphor for Venezuelan suffering.'

She said lions and tigers in the zoo in Caracas were being fed mango and pumpkin to make up their meat rations, while an elephant is eating tropical fruit instead of its usual diet of hay.

The zoo's management declined to comment.

Government officials have denied the deaths were due to a lack of food, but state prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deaths of 'various species of wildlife' at the zoo.

President Nicolas Maduro blames the country's problems on an 'economic war' waged by local opponents and the United States.

His critics say heavy reliance on oil, the price of which has fallen steeply, and unsustainable economic policy are to blame.

As with all shortages in Venezuela, the situation for zoos is felt most keenly outside the capital, though wardens are looking for ways to keep animals alive.

A lion sleeps inside a cage at the Caricuao zoo in Caracas, where 50 animals have died of hunger

'We are doing all that is humanly possible to ensure the zoo continues to function,' said Oslander Montoya, an accountant for the local municipality which handles funding for the zoo.

Three animals died in May at a zoo in Paraguana, on the northwestern Falcon peninsula, the director said.

Staff there are planning to move a dozen animals, including vulnerable spectacled bears, to another park in the Andean state of Merida.