Save Georgia's Zoo Animals From Neglect!
Multiple zoos in the former Soviet Union are not taking care of their animals properly. In most cases, it's a lack of funding rather than deliberate cruelty. Approximately half the animals in Tbilisi, which is home to Georgia's biggest zoo, perished in a flood just last year. Three hundred animals died. Many drowned, and others were shot by the police as they wandered the city streets foraging for food, having barely escaped the flooded zoo. Please join me in asking the Georgian Parliament to allocate enough money to zoos to ensure adequate care of animals--including relocating them prior to a flood--or close the zoo and donate the animals to other, better funded zoos.
To the Parliament of Georgia:
I understand that a flood is a devastating event that government cannot prevent or entirely prepare for. However, the deaths of 300 zoo animals points to a management problem in your zoos. It appears the facilities are underfunded. Otherwise, the animals would have been relocated in advance of the flood. Please allocate enough money to zoos to ensure adequate care of animals--including relocating them prior to a flood--or close the zoo and donate the animals to other, better funded zoos.
