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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: December 2006

Ethiopian zoo poisons lion cubs

 

ADDIS ABABA--"Rare Abyssinian lion cubs are being poisoned and sold to taxidermists" at the Lion Zoo in Ethiopia, Associated Press correspondent Les Neuhaus disclosed on November 22, 2006.

"These animals are the pride of our country, but our only alternative right now is to send them to the taxidermist," Neuhaus quoted Lion Zoo director Muhedin Abdulaziz. Abdulaziz said the cubs' remains fetch about $178 apiece, and that his staff had poisoned six cubs in 2006.

Built in 1948 by the late emperor Haile Selassie, the Lion Zoo housed 16 adult lions and five cubs when Neuhaus visited.

Both Abdulaziz and Lion Zoo assistant veterinarian Yedenekachew Sahelu denied to Efrem Legese and Hana Kifle of the Homeless Animals Protection Society of Ethiopia that any cubs were poisoned in 2006.

Abdulaziz and Sahelu claimed that the poisonings actually occurred before Abdulaziz arrived, in 2004--which directly contradicted Neuhaus. But they did acknowledge culling adult lions, while continuing to allow the highly inbred population to mate.

"The story of the poisoning is familliar to me from my time in Ethiopia," Israeli consular employee Einat Danieli told ANIMAL PEOPLE. Danieli had just started volunteer work in August 2006 to improve the Haile Selassie Zoo, a separate facility at the palace of the former emperor, described in the October 2006 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE, when she was transferred to Toronto.

"Just before I left, I got a friend of mine from BBC working on the poisoning story," Danieli said, "and she got really good direct proof of what is happening."

North Carolina Zoo director David Jones, African Zoo Association secretary Dave Morgan, and other concerned zoo officials around the world scrambled to obtain further information and seek means of intervention. Neither the Lion Zoo nor the Selassie Zoo is accredited, and neither has had recent contact with the global zoo community.