Donkey Sanctuary’s “Shock & Disbelief” at Video of Live Donkey being fed to Captive Tigers in China
Posted on 6 June 2017.The Donkey Sanctuary reacted today with “shock and disbelief” at a recent incident at the Yangcheng Safari Park, Jiangzu Province in China, where a live donkey was fed to captive tigers. The incident, captured on video, can be seen here (PLEASE BE AWARE - STRONG IMAGES).
Alex Thiemann, one of The Donkey Sanctuary’s experienced vets said ‘The welfare of this donkey has been utterly ignored. The actions of these individuals could only have had one possible outcome – the drawn-out and excruciatingly painful death of a frightened animal. And yet they seem to enjoy what they are doing. What they have done is inexcusable, and the Park authorities need to ensure it never happens again.’
It is reported that a disgruntled shareholder of Yangcheng Safari Park, organised a group of men to seize some of the zoo’s animals, including the donkey, in order to remove and sell them. The shareholder was reportedly unsatisfied with a court ruling that all assets, including zoo equity and animals, are currently frozen in a debt dispute.
News reports claimed that the shareholder was prevented from removing the animals by zoo security. Apparently angered by this, and captured on video, a group of men are filmed tipping the donkey from a flat-bed truck directly into the water-filled moat surrounding the tiger enclosure. Onlookers were reported as saying that the men subsequently tried to throw a live goat in too, but were stopped by visitors and security staff.
Kevin Brown, the charity’s assistant director of programmes said: ‘How terrifying to have been thrown into the water and then slowly maimed by the tigers that are clearly captive animals and seemingly don’t know how to kill. The news reports say the donkey’s terrifying ordeal lasted almost half an hour - what an utterly pointless exercise and a horrendously inhumane act.’
The Donkey Sanctuary is seeking urgent clarification about this incident from Yangcheng Safari Park and seeking assurances that this shareholder will be prevented from seizing further animals.
The charity is also asking the Park authorities for more information about the circumstances in which this incident took place as well as any policy it has on feeding live animals to captive animals.
