Ruperta the elephant, once a proud showpiece of the Caracas zoo, became a glaring symbol of starving Venezuela. Despite worldwide attention and an outpouring of help from her city, she died in January.
She’s one of at least fifty animals that starved to death in Caracas zoos last year, according to a union leader.
As cruel a fate as starving in captivity may be, others are suffering a perhaps more brutal fate as they are being stolen for food.
As the people of Venezuela starve, desperation has driven them to eat their zoo animals. Two collared peccaries (similar to boars) were recently stolen from a zoo near the Colombian border.
“What we presume is that they (were taken) with the intention of eating them,” Luis Morales, an official for the Zulia division of the National Police, told reporters.
As reported by The Guardian, former zoo director Mauricio Castillo thieves had stolen two tapirs, a pig-like animal vulnerable to extinction.
Government officials deny the animals have starved, saying the animals were treated “like family.”
So… the starvation of animals is on par with that of of Venezuela’s families.
The spin zone has no limits, as Venezuela descends into the chaos of an Ayn Rand novel.
Full-fledged economic meltdown rages with 1,000,000% inflation. The country effectively ran out of toilet paper in 2016.
President Nicolas Maduro maintains his power despite international consensus that his recent elections and constitutional amendments are a sham.
