Athens Zoo under fire over chimpanzee shooting
Athens Zoo is under fire over the shooting of a chimpanzee. Animal welfare organisations are demanding consequences.
A male chimpanzee was shot on Saturday after escaping from its enclosure at the Attica Zoological Park on the outskirts of Athens.
The killing of the animal, as well as the circumstances of its escape from the zoo in the Athens suburb of Spata, have now come under heavy criticism.
Social media users and animal welfare advocates have raised questions about the quality of animal care at the zoo, which is privately owned and has previously been scrutinised over the welfare of its animals.
According to the zoo, the chimpanzee, which was 27 years old and 1.80 m tall, was able to escape from its cage, overcome an electric fence and then make its way to the zoo's car park.
The escape of the captive animal followed a confrontation with the other chimpanzees kept at the zoo.
The Attica Zoo, which has been criticised for its decision to shoot the animal, issued a statement saying:
«The police were informed, visitors were isolated, and the chimpanzee was brought to an isolated area within the park's security grounds following coordinated measures by security personnel in the presence of veterinarians, where it was deemed necessary to neutralise him 20 minutes later.»
Many questioned why the animal was killed rather than simply sedated, but the zoo explained that the extremely high adrenaline levels in the chimpanzee's body made sedation impossible, as it could take approximately twenty minutes for the medication to take effect.
Jean-Jacques Lesueur, the owner of the zoo, told Greek television channel Alpha on Saturday that there was no other way to prevent the animal from escaping.
«Chimpanzees belong to the red and highest risk category, meaning that according to the security protocols and the risk assessment carried out by the attending and competent veterinarians observing the animals' behavior, their neutralization is considered«, explained Lesueur.
«I understand people's concerns. What we want to emphasize now, and also in our statement, is that an animal in such a state of fear with high adrenaline levels cannot be sedated«, he continued.
«We isolated the animal and observed it for 15 minutes, we tried to bring it back into the zoo, it did not want to return, it was very agitated. There was no way to bring it to a safe place. We were unable to capture it«, said Lesueur. «It was outside the zoo grounds».
Despite these statements, many social media users and activists were outraged by the killing, pointing out that in 2018, two jaguars were killed at the same zoo after escaping from their enclosures.
Many organizations, including the Panhellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation, have organized protests outside the zoo.
An investigation will be conducted into how the chimpanzee was able to escape and whether or not its killing was justified.
The keeper who shot and killed the chimpanzee with a rifle was arrested but released on the orders of the public prosecutor.
