Posted on 02/10/2006 7:41:26 PM PST by Daralundy
SKOPJE - A lion and a llama died of cold in a zoo in southern Macedonia this week as polar temperatures gripped the country, zoo authorities said on Thursday. The 25-year-old lion and the baby llama were found dead in their cages after temperatures in the southern city of Bitola, near the border with Greece, fell overnight to minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18.40 Fahrenheit).
Both animals lived in open bar cages with no heating.
Zoo authorities said the lion was too old to withstand the cold and the two-month-old lama too young to be taken from her mother and placed in a heated cage.
Animal care is not a priority in Macedonia, one of Europe's poorest countries. Conditions in most zoos are dire.
The country in recent days has been hit by what local media call a "polar winter", with temperatures plunging far below zero, especially in Bitola - the coldest city in the country with temperatures in the minus 20s.
This is sorta sad. Er also Global Warming Alert.
That's what they get when they substitute a moose with a llama.
On a certain level, zoos are pretty not-cool, doncha think? Particularly if there's been no attempt to duplicate natural habitat. No, I am NOT a liberal.
Why is freakin' Macedonia wasting what little money they have on a damn zoo? The people pretty much live like animals, why don't they look at each other?
I can see your point...honestly, I don't care for or about zoos too much.
¡Cuidado! Llamas!!!!
-18 below is pretty dang cold.
I seem to remember their building a statue of Alexander on a scale greater than that of Mount Rushmore. I wonder what the price tag on that undertaking is.
Yeah, but lions and llamas are pretty dang furry critters. I'm surprised they couldn't withstand it.
I wonder if Algore has a comment.
This is basic animal cruelty.
Circuses have more sense.
It was tough, but I survived!
Officials announced there would be a single grave and the lion would lay down with the llama.
Aw, they could have at least given the critters a blanket
Try sleeping on concrete at 20 below in the open, bet that fur coat won't feel so warm.
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