Hungry Venezuelans break into Caracas zoo and butcher a horse for food

August 2016 – VENEZUELA – Venezuelans suffering from hunger and shortages in their struggling country broke into Caracas zoo and pulled a black stallion from its pen, butchering it for the meat. The crime occurred late last month, in the small hours of the morning at Caracas’ Caricuao Zoo. A gang of people sneaked into the state-run park under the cover of darkness and seized the horse – the only one of its kind in the zoo. The animal was then led to a secluded area and butchered on the spot.
Zookeepers arriving for duty the next morning, on July 25, found only its head and ribs left behind in a pile. Dalila Puglia, an environmental prosecutor, has been commissioned by the government to investigate. But the horse was not the first zoo animal to suffer the effects of Venezuela’s crippling food shortages. Vietnamese pigs and sheep were reportedly stolen from the same zoo earlier in July. Earlier this month Marlene Sifontes, a union leader for employees of state parks agency Inparques, which oversees zoos, said that 50 animals in the zoo had starved to death over the last six months.

This post was published at UtopiatheCollapse on August 24, 2016.