Animal rights activists in Tunisia decry crocodile stoning
Tunisia's Belvedere Zoo is unsafe for the animals it is supposed to protect.
A crowd of around a hundred protesters gathered outside the Belvedere Zoo in Tunis March 5. A woman in a baseball hat affixed with small black cat ears paced in front of the group, repeatedly shouting, “Stop abusing animals in Tunisia!” An image of a panda’s face adorned her sweatshirt. Behind her, a man held up a pool float in the shape of a crocodile, an inflatable toy as an homage to a crocodile who was stoned to death at the zoo Feb. 28.
“A group of visitors to the zoo threw stones at the head of a crocodile, causing internal hemorrhaging that killed it,” the Tunisian municipality announced on its Facebook page that day. A gory picture of the crocodile, its head bloody and battered, accompanied the text.
The Belvedere Zoo, which houses more than 150 species of animals, had been accused of mismanagement and maltreatment in the past. On March 1, children were filmed riding on the back of a rhinoceros. Though trash cans are installed throughout the park, the zoo is filled with discarded refuse that finds its way into the animals’ cages and water sources. In January, concerned citizens sent a petition to the Tunisian government about the zoo’s lions, who, the petition charged, “are in a lamentable state, hungry, skeletal and sick.” The bloody death of the crocodile, however, created a fever pitch of public outcry.
“We were shocked when we saw the pictures,” said Noor, an 18-year-old student who attended the protest, which was supported by local nongovernmental organizations, including the Association for the Protection of Animals in Tunisia (PAT), the Civil Association of Tunisia (Association Civile de Tunisie) and Winou Etrottoir? (Where Is the Sidewalk?).
