The carnage occurred after Chinese authorities closed the zoo for two months due to the coronavirus lockdown. Zookeepers returning to work took harrowing footage that showed hungry foxes eating the carcass of an alpaca. The recent footage shows the arctic foxes devouring the dead alpaca inside a filthy cage at the indoor zoo in Changsha, Hunan Province of central China.

Hundreds of other animals, including squirrels, rabbits and guinea pigs, starved to death when the owner struggled to look after them due to plummeting profits. The zoo, called The Animal Party Themed Park, in Changsha, Hunan Province has allowed staff members back on site. One staff member said: “One of the alpacas literally starved to death because there wasn’t enough food stored for them. “Animals were starting to eat each other.” Please sign up to pledge your support now to our brave NHS Heroes – LINK

The employee went on to describe how her fellow colleagues used their own cash to feed the malnourished animals but discovered they had perished when they returned to find the zoo’s owner, who hadn’t paid them since January, had not given the food to the animals. The zoo manager, known by his surname Wu, claimed the animals died because “they weren’t used to the local weather”. And he denied a lack of food was behind the mass deaths. The manager claimed most of the animals had been transferred to a local animal farm in early February. READ MORE: Coronavirus crisis: EU ‘acting for themselves’ as claims expert

At the weekend, the first train arrived in the city ferrying more than 1,000 workers from elsewhere in the province back to the city for work. On Sunday, local authorities said residents could begin returning to work if they did not have a temperature and could provide a green health code, signifying their virus-free status as well as a certificate from their employer. Officials said the city would be gradually reopened and public transportation would resume.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/daily-express-world-news/~3/Ehn2kgMmcqQ/Coronavirus-china-zoo-animals-starve-to-death-eat-eachother-lockdown-covid-19-crisis