Environment Animals Wild animals

The moving video of the animal, suffering from a serious bone disease

Tiger cub thrown in the trash: Athens Zoo fights to save it

Initially mistaken for a "big white cat", it had been abandoned under a garbage dumpster. Founder Zoological Park of Attica: "He was scared, thin and dehydrated"

19/03/2023

Reuters

Veterinary medicine doctor Ioannis Panopoulos, 40, veterinary anesthesiologist George Polyzois, 28, and zoo and wildlife veterinarian Arsinoi Psaroudaki, 32, control a baby white tiger. The caresses on a sofa, the white hair a little matted and the wide, suffering eyes, which betray the poor state of health: in the video the tiger cub that the "Zoological Park of Attica" of Atente, Greece, is desperately trying to keep alive: everything starts from the report of an employee of the institute: "We found a big white cat outside a garbage bin", then the discovery: it is instead of the "predator", the big cat probably - according to the CEO and founder of the Greek Zoo, Jean-Jacques Lesueur - was a pet, then abandoned by its "owners": "It was in poor condition, it was dirty, it was a bit afraid, it seemed thin and dehydrated".

This is the first time for the Zoological Park of Attica: "We have had a number of cases of animals dumped in front of our door - comments Jean-Jacques Lesueur with surprise - but usually they are pets, puppies or kittens, turtles, some reptiles, injured birds, but a tiger? Never."

"I've read many reports of victims of the illegal wildlife trade, but until you see it in front of you, you can't understand the seriousness of the health problems it faces. It's very sad."
The tiger cub in fact, subjected to X-rays, suffers from a metabolic bone disease "A very common and serious problem that affects animals in the illegal trade of wild animals - says the Zoo Veterinarian - probably has been fed with an incorrect diet, and is severely lacking in vitamins and minerals: this makes its bones extremely fragile".

According to the Anima Wildflife Association, a Greek association that protects animals: "We know of many animals that enter Greece illegally, snakes, tigers: and it is not the first time that a tiger enters, other species that are in strictly protected lists, such as chimpanzees, can also enter".
And Greece, according to the Soul, is starting to become the "Gateway to the rest of Europe" for these animals, which usually "come from entry points like Turkey or Cyprus."