Four animals died in a tragic accident in Hellabrunn Zoo.
The zoo in Munich announced this in a press release.
Munich
- As the zoo * announces on its website, the deceased animals are four meerkats.
"Hellabrunn has to go into the weekend with very sad news," says the press release.
Tragic accident in Hellabrunn Zoo: Meerkats are buried and die
The four meerkats had found themselves in a self-dug sleeping cave on the night from Wednesday to Thursday, September 23, "when the ground suddenly gave way and buried the popular mongoose under itself," according to the wording.
Zoo keepers had noticed the accident on Thursday morning.
The four animals could only be recovered dead.
"Our four meerkats Rwanda, Quodo, Quimbele and Rafiki were surprised when the cave collapsed at night and had no chance of getting out of the burrow alive," said Carsten Zehrer, zoological director of the zoo.
According to the zoo, the soil substrate of the meerkat enclosure was revised a few years ago in order to ensure a more stable composition.
Meerkats die in Hellabrunn Zoo: workforce shaken
This would have already proven itself well in other zoos.
The accident is all the more tragic, even if it could have happened in the natural habitat of the animals, the savannah of Africa.
The consistency of the floor should now be checked again.
The complete loss of their meerkats and the tragic circumstances of their death made the Hellabrunn workforce as well as numerous zoo guests and animal sponsors very sad, said Zehrer.
However, new meerkats would move into the enclosure "in the foreseeable future".
(kah)
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