20 Tigers Die in East China Zoo, Investigation Finds

A large number of animals, including 20 tigers, have died at a zoo in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui after being kept under inhumane conditions, an investigation revealed.

The news sparked widespread concern and outrage on Chinese social media and prompted the park to suspend operations for three days.

Located in the Yingdong District of Fuyang City, the privately owned Fuyang Wildlife Park, operated by Anhui Colorful Wildlife Park Co., is now at the center of an animal rights controversy. Reports suggest that the park had been engaging in the illegal breeding of Siberian tigers—a protected species in China—without appropriate licensing.

The zoo prematurely housed animals while still under construction within just half a year since bidding for the site, a report by China Philanthropist magazine claimed.

In April 2018, the zoo acquired 33 Siberian tigers, along with 11 black bears, five lions, three camels and other types of wildlife for a total of $350,000, without the necessary infrastructure to support them.

The situation deteriorated further when construction was halted due to land use conflicts, leaving the animals in limbo.

China Philanthropist learned from the company that had provided the park with the animals that since October 2019, 10 Siberian tigers had died, along with 10 out of the 11 tiger cubs born there, an adult giraffe and two giraffe calves, two lions, and a number of macaques and other smaller animals.

While on the park grounds, the reporter witnessed black bears and tigers trapped in cramped iron cages, as well as tigers and lions held in dark rooms. During the reporter's May 10 visit, they reportedly saw animal corpses piled in a refrigerated room and animal cubs still preserved in a freezer.

State-owned news outlet The Paper cited Yingdong District's forestry bureau as saying it had previously sent reporters to investigate the matter, but "specific progress was not yet clear."

One Fuyang Wildlife Park staff member confirmed to The Paper that many of the animal deaths were related to the substandard conditions of their captivity.

China Philanthropist published a document it obtained by China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration. The document was a refusal to grant a permit to the park to artificially breed Siberian tigers, among other protected animals, because it "does not have the appropriate sites and facilities."

"It's heartbreaking to hear that 20 tigers, two lions, three giraffes and many other wild animals have reportedly died in recent years at the decrepit Fuyang Wildlife Park," Jason Baker, vice president of PETA Asia, said in a statement.

"Fuyang Zoo seems to have become a grim refuge for animals displaced from the collapsing circus industry," Baker said. "With so many zoos and circuses already reportedly killing tigers for tiger wine, the death of captive tigers in China is nothing new. And the mistreatment of animals in zoos isn't unique to China. Sentenced to a life of captivity, intelligent, sociable animals suffer untimely deaths in zoos around the world."