An Erbil zoo has filed a complaint to police on Wednesday against five men for mistreating animals at the facility. Photo: video screenshot
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Erbil zoo has filed a complaint to police on Wednesday against five men for mistreating animals at the facility. Videos of the incident sparked outrage on social media, with animal rights organizations slamming the general treatment of animals at zoos, and others calling for legal action to be taken against the perpetrators.
“Five young men, who are over 20 years old, came into the Erbil Zoo and to the area called “safari” which is an open space where people drive around in their cars and see the animals, but they showed poor manners and hurt the animals. For example, they grabbed their tails or hoisted them up,” Hersh Khoshnaw, owner of the Erbil Zoo told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Videos published on social media show the men grabbing a small donkey and putting it on their shoulders. One of them raises its legs behind and the donkey ends up falling to the floor. They can also be seen trying to grab a deer by its antlers, chasing other animals away and grabbing their tails.
The zoo owner claims the men were youtubers trying to make viral content.
Khoshnaw added that they have filed a complaint against the men at the Kasnazan police station, and have penalized their own employees for poor supervision.
Erbil Zoo opened in May 2020. The 50-acre facility, near Kasnazan on the Erbil-Koya road is home to more than 180 different species of animals and birds.
“What worries us is the behavior of these young men which damages Erbil and Kurdistan’s reputation. There should be legal action taken against them. If they had damaged the place we could have forgiven them but this type of treatment to animals is inhumane and we will not forgive it,” added Khoshnaw.
The videos sparked public outrage on social media and among animal rights organizations, with some people already calling for legal action to be taken, others advocating for closing down all zoos.
“The problem is not only this confused young man. The problem is the huge establishment that has spent millions of dollars and has imprisoned all these animals but they can't take on the responsibility of caring for and protecting the animals. Even their employees are mistreating the animals but no one speaks up against it,” Sulaimani-based Protecting Animals in Kurdistan (PAK) Organisation said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“Zoos should never exist. They are worse than circuses. We need sanctuaries that help and protect animals. Animals are individuals. They aren’t meant to be used for entertainment or profit, but who listens? They think it’s a radical idea to ask humans not to be cruel to animals,” one person, going by the name of Sham on Twitter wrote in response to the incident on Thursday.
Zoos are generally poorly managed in the Kurdistan Region. Animal rights abuses are prolific across Iraq and the Region, especially for stray dogs that are considered a menace and a public health issue.
Around 15 kinds of wild and domestic animals in Sulaimani’s Newroz Zoo, built in 1991, were kept in dire conditions and some died because of the conditions in captivity. In 2010, Erbil's privately-owned Gilkand Zoo was named by the US-based Global Post newspaper as one of the world’s worst zoos.
Additional reporting by Hemin Baban Rahim
“Five young men, who are over 20 years old, came into the Erbil Zoo and to the area called “safari” which is an open space where people drive around in their cars and see the animals, but they showed poor manners and hurt the animals. For example, they grabbed their tails or hoisted them up,” Hersh Khoshnaw, owner of the Erbil Zoo told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Videos published on social media show the men grabbing a small donkey and putting it on their shoulders. One of them raises its legs behind and the donkey ends up falling to the floor. They can also be seen trying to grab a deer by its antlers, chasing other animals away and grabbing their tails.
The zoo owner claims the men were youtubers trying to make viral content.
Khoshnaw added that they have filed a complaint against the men at the Kasnazan police station, and have penalized their own employees for poor supervision.
Erbil Zoo opened in May 2020. The 50-acre facility, near Kasnazan on the Erbil-Koya road is home to more than 180 different species of animals and birds.
“What worries us is the behavior of these young men which damages Erbil and Kurdistan’s reputation. There should be legal action taken against them. If they had damaged the place we could have forgiven them but this type of treatment to animals is inhumane and we will not forgive it,” added Khoshnaw.
The videos sparked public outrage on social media and among animal rights organizations, with some people already calling for legal action to be taken, others advocating for closing down all zoos.
“The problem is not only this confused young man. The problem is the huge establishment that has spent millions of dollars and has imprisoned all these animals but they can't take on the responsibility of caring for and protecting the animals. Even their employees are mistreating the animals but no one speaks up against it,” Sulaimani-based Protecting Animals in Kurdistan (PAK) Organisation said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“Zoos should never exist. They are worse than circuses. We need sanctuaries that help and protect animals. Animals are individuals. They aren’t meant to be used for entertainment or profit, but who listens? They think it’s a radical idea to ask humans not to be cruel to animals,” one person, going by the name of Sham on Twitter wrote in response to the incident on Thursday.
Zoos are generally poorly managed in the Kurdistan Region. Animal rights abuses are prolific across Iraq and the Region, especially for stray dogs that are considered a menace and a public health issue.
Around 15 kinds of wild and domestic animals in Sulaimani’s Newroz Zoo, built in 1991, were kept in dire conditions and some died because of the conditions in captivity. In 2010, Erbil's privately-owned Gilkand Zoo was named by the US-based Global Post newspaper as one of the world’s worst zoos.
Additional reporting by Hemin Baban Rahim
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