Zoo staff and staff with the Wild Animal Sanctuary group ready the large cats and the opposite animals for the lengthy journey.
Activists have lengthy held the U.S. territory’s authorities chargeable for the deaths and ailing well being of animals reported for greater than a decade on the zoo within the western city of Mayaguez.
Wild Animal Sanctuary is overseeing the elimination of the animals and different creatures on the zoo. They are going to be transferred initially to a refuge in Colorado till a everlasting house is discovered for them.
A few of the smaller specimens like reptiles and a few monkeys had been already transferred, however the larger mammals just like the lions, the bear and the camel required particular measures for touring.
A government-appointed committee mentioned that previously decade two pumas died on the zoo. It additionally raised issues about an underweight chimpanzee in addition to a rhinoceros named Felipe that was limping and mentioned there was a scarcity of shelter for animals.
In January, an American black bear named Nina who had stopped consuming died from a coronary heart assault at greater than 20 years previous. Black bears can stay as much as 35 years in captivity.
In March, federal authorities mentioned they had been dropping all investigations into the zoo after reaching an settlement with native officers to switch the animals to sanctuaries on the U.S. mainland. The announcement angered many activists.
The zoo opened initially in 1954, but it surely has been closed since hurricanes Irma and Maria battered Puerto Rico in September 2017.
