By Teresa Brummett

Online Editor

Remember as a kid when you’d pack up the car and head to the zoo? You’d step into the zoo wanting so desperately to see the tigers, lions, elephants, zebras. You’d finally get to the tigers and watch as they slowly stepped as if you were its prey. Or maybe you’d catch the polar bear slip into the cool waters for a swim.

Well, zoo’s today are needing help. But, instead of contacting people for this help, some are just leaving this poor defenseless animals to fend for themselves.

Houhamnes and Alvina Madoyan visited an abandoned zoo in Gyumri,  Armenia.

As they walked around, they heard strange noises. They realized it was the cries of abandoned animals, still in cages on cement floors without any food or water. 

The zoo owner couldn’t afford to feed the animals, so he abandoned them.

A tigress had a gash in her head because she had been banging her head against the brick walls and cage. There also were two brown bears, two guinea pigs, the mother tigress and her two cubs.

After months with no food or water, several animals died, and the others were starving and going crazy.

Although Houhamnes had lost his own job and the couple was struggling themselves, they didn’t stop them from getting scraps of food and water to these poor animals.

Authorities tried on several attempts to contact the owner with no return answer. Eventually, he did contact authorities, and a case may be sought against him.

In the meantime there were eight different organizations working on getting the animals freed. Finally, a judge granted that wish.

But now the real work had to begin. They had to find homes and medical care for all the animals. After being held in quarantine for a couple weeks they were then placed in a recovery area and then eventually their new homes. 

The guinea pigs were slightly malnourished but were better than expected. The other animals didn’t favor as well.

Taken next were the bears. The bears were taken because of their deterioration.  Their weight was less than a third of normal.

Today all seven animals are doing very well. They are becoming stronger and stronger with every day.

This zoo located in Armenian a town of Gyumri isn’t the only zoo with animals that has been abandoned. In Khan Younis zoo, located in Gaza, hundreds of animals were found. They had been dead so long they were mummified. Several were in upright sitting positions, just like they were taking a break from the day.

Animal cruelty is all over the world, even here in the United States. People don’t think about it until it’s brought to their attention. Orca whales at Sea World have exhibited troubling behavior from captivity. Circuses have stopped showing elephants in their shows.

Teresa Brummett can be reached at [email protected].