Neglected animals moved to Tirana zoo to recover 

Vets and police have rescued 11 neglected animals from ‘the worst zoo in Europe’, amid serious concerns about their welfare.

The Safari Park Zoo Fier in Albania made headlines recently after photos and footage emerged showing horrendous conditions for the animals.

Rescued animals include three lions and a three-legged bear that were displaying signs of severe mental and physical trauma.

For safety reasons, the owner of the zoo was not forewarned about the confiscation of the animals. Albanian police had to break the entrance gate to give access to the rescue team from FOUR PAWS.

Vet Marc Gölkel said: “What we saw was shocking: dirty little concrete enclosures with desolate animals inside. The animals are all in bad conditions. Lenci the lion suffers from a proliferation on the conjunctiva of his left eye that needs to be treated. The three-legged female bear Dushi is very emaciated and has clear behavioural disorders.”

FOUR PAWS had been investigating the zoo since December 2015, but due to legal restrictions, it had never been possible to intervene.

As a temporary measure, vets transported the animals, which included three lions, a bear, zebra, fox, water buck, red deer and three fallow deer - to a zoo in Tirana, where new enclosures were built to house them. Sadly the zebra died shortly after being released into the Tirana enclosure.

Gölkel said: “There is always a residual risk with anaesthesia – especially if the animals come from poor keeping conditions. The anaesthesia and the two-hour transfer were obviously too much for the weakened zebra. We are all sad that we could not help this poor animal more.”

Once the animals have recovered, they will be transported to more species-appropriate sanctuaries.

Images © FOUR PAWS