The special units considered the time of disaster as a favorable occasion for hunting! Some policemen were seen taking selfies alongside the bodies of tigers, lions and other large animals that they had shot, posing like big-game hunters with trophies. The animals who “luckily” survived at the zoo during the flooding became the victims of human cruelty, dishonesty and non-civilization! The Government of Georgia completely ignores this terrible massacre of innocent creatures and refused to make investigation - instead of this, they decided to buy new animals for "collection" (as they call zoo animals) in the spring 2016. The country which longs for the integration to European Union is not allowed to have an uncivilized attitude toward animals  or leave unpunished the crime committed against animals:      

 On the night of June 14, 2015 in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, there was a natural disaster due to which people and animals died. The risen river Vere destroyed the houses, zoo and dog shelter. We are deeply sorry for the tragedy that took part in Tbilisi, we condole to the families of the deceased people and respect their memory.

It should be noted that since 2009 environmental experts and non-government organizations, because of expected (predictable) catastrophic consequences, protested the construction of the main of the river Vere  and intensive cutting of trees there. At the same time it should be mentioned that as a result of the first flooding on June 3 the above mentioned dog shelter was significantly damaged and lots of dogs died... Reasonable questions raised among society, as to whether it was possible to take preventive measures to avoid the tragic events of June 14, requires the creation of the State Commission and conduction of the appropriate investigation.

Not only once, there were some issues concerning the replacement of the zoo to a safer place as well as the relatively humane conditions for animals. Some of the animal rights advocates protested the existence of the zoo and capture of animals in cages though, the animals, trapped behind the bars, were sacrificed for consumer attitudes and humans’ selfish “entertainment”. Unfortunately, during the flooding on June 14 some part of the captive animals at the zoo got drowned and therefore they were killed because of people’s indifference and irresponsibility, which is very disturbing and sad fact and emphasizes the problems with regard to the protection of animals rights in Georgia.

But even more disappointing was the fate of the animals, who luckily survived the hurricane,  because they became the victims of human cruelty, dishonesty and non-civilization! Let’s start from the fact that in the country should exist pre-designed plans for different emergency situations and relevant state agencies must act professionally and in coordination in order not to jeopardize the city even more, but the animal monitoring agency (for the budget of which is allocated 1 500 000 USD annually) turned out to have neither a plan nor the professionals who would manage to get animals to sleep with tranquilizers. And even more, the special forces together with the abovementioned animal monitoring agency, instead of help and survive animals, carried out executions of them and neglected the warning of the zoo administration about the fact that the shooting at the zoo territory would cause the animals to escape and endanger the people outside. Undoubtedly, when such a natural disaster happens, killing an animal is an extreme measure in any civilized country, which is only applied when the animal is a direct threat to human life and the time and circumstances do not give the person other chance. It should be also noted that for the arrangement of the situation Tbilisi was offered assistance by several international animal protection organizations though they received no reply.  Unfortunately, use of tranquilizers and transfer of animals to a safer place was not a priority of a special forces, moreover, some of them considered the time of disaster as a favorable occasion for “hunting”. It’s known that during natural disasters predators living in the wild never attack weaker animals with the same problems… 

The Guardian  wrote an article about this fact:  „Special police units called to Tbilisi zoo during this weekend’s devastating flood have been accused of overreacting by unnecessarily shooting many of the animals, as hundreds of volunteers joined the clear-up effort at the flattened site.  Some policemen were seen taking selfies alongside the bodies of tigers, lions and other large animals that they had shot, posing like big-game hunters, two zoo staff in Georgia’s capital city told the Guardian.  “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said one worker, in tears as she spoke, and asking not to be named. “It was like a trophy for them.” In one case, staff said a wolf they had successfully tranquilised and safely tethered was then shot by police as it lay on the ground. Only three of the zoo’s original 20 wolves survived…........ And, while some escaped, including bears and a hippo, it now appears most animals either drowned or were shot inside the zoo park boundary“. 

Domestic, completely harmless, scared white lion cub Shumba, who was hiding under the stairs with his friend dog Karakula, was also killed by a special unit to whom the zoo staff explained that he was no threat to the people around and asked him to keep his life! Many frightened animals – hyenas, bears, tigers, wolves, lions –  who survived the disaster, were ruthlessly killed in closed cages. The volunteers, who risked their own lives,  came to the destroyed dog shelter and survived a sheep dog, who was later killed by a special unit soldier as he said “the dog looked like a lion”…(!)  All of the above are confirmed by the witnesses as well as by the taken photos and video materials.  There are many statements that depict unjustified use of fire guns instead of tranquilizers. At one of the leading channels was invited a witness, who said about how the special forces competed one another in the number of killed animals and the witness managed to shoot the video of it together with other materials. There was also a TV interview with a zoo employee, who talked about the brutal murders of a white lion cub Shumba and the tied wolf. The photos of the hippo walking on the square, spread across the world, but you need to know that there was an ultimatum put forward: if he didn’t return to his enclosure in 2 hours, there would be an immediate “liquidation” of him! For his survival we should be grateful to a high class professional, field biologist Bejan Lortkipanidze,  who immediately arrived in Tbilisi and hard work of the zoo employees.

Unfortunately, just two days after the disaster, one more tragic fact happened. Although the Security and Crisis Management Council (whose responsibility included the safety of the population), the mayor and some more officials, also the director of the zoo released the information according to which all the animals that were lost in the zoo territory – either returned to the zoo enclosures, or found drowned in the water, or “liquidated” – finally, it found out that a white tiger was in the warehouse of the former factory and  attacked the worker who was entering the warehouse. The dissemination of such information indicates to the fact that there was no care or appropriate responsibility and attention not only for animals but the people’s lives as well! At the same time, throughout this period, thousands of volunteers were out in the streets and cleaned the city and the zoo. Later, it was reported that the zoo administration was still looking for some prey animals…

We demand timely and objective investigation of the number of facts depicting the ungrounded, brutal murder of animals that took place on June 14 in parallel with the total tragedy! We demand the identification of every individual and their prosecution who could not cope with the obligations  legally imposed on them in regard to the above facts (those who failed to survive animals, their sleeping with tranquilizers and moving to a safer place), those who participated in the awful massacre of innocent animals or gave an order of it! The country which longs for the integration to European Union, is not allowed to have an uncivilized attitude toward animals or leave unpunished the crime committed against animals! We demand respect for the rights of animals and their protection in Georgia!