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The dose of the drug that must be injected into a predatory animal for it to fall asleep and be controlled has been determined by veterinarians at the Lithuanian Zoo. As a representative of the AAD said, there were no problems during the procedure. If the vets had noticed a deterioration in the cougar’s health during the inspection, they would not have left the animal unattended in any way.
Witness the incident: until then, the cougar had no health problems
Irma, a witness to the event, told tv3.lt about the sad fate of the cougar held in the territory of Grūtas Park. She introduced herself as the wife of Edvard Legeckas, the owner of the Klaipeda Zoo.
“Puma was handed over to Grūtas Park for retraining. Go <...> That puma came to sleep and checked its health. <...> He called the vets and put the cougar to sleep, ”he shared.
Irma eyed the inspection of the cougar warily. According to her, in hot weather, the animal should not be allowed to take medication.
“The first thing is the enormous heat. That cougar didn’t wake up after falling asleep. Now I’m in the pathology center, bringing that cougar from Grūtas Park to do an autopsy. The environmentalists and even the people are here. <...> I wanted to take that cougar and destroy it completely, ”the woman said sternly.
She said she was charged with allegedly stealing the body of a dead cougar while traveling with the animal for an autopsy. “We brought her in to do all the research on what happened to her. And that happened to her <...> – Heat, stress and the animal does not wake up after sleeping. And the police were subdued because we were transporting an illegally held cougar. Even on the road, they began to stop cars, looking where the puma is illegal, ”the witness of the events enraged.
The portal tv3.lt was interested in the health of the puma before the inspection by environmentalists. Irma assured that the animal had no health problems: “A healthy cougar, the best, the best.”
PHOTO GALLERY. The cougar died from the territory of Grūtas Park.
Consider that the animal slept unreasonably
Irma expressed her dissatisfaction with the inspection carried out by Puma. In his opinion, it was possible to use other means to verify the marking of the animal.
“They wanted to scan the chip of the animal. These are scanners. Environmentalists must have scanners that scan the chip number from a distance. No, they still needed to put her to sleep. And for what purpose, we don’t understand it, “he said.
The woman was also puzzled by the course of events after the cougar’s death. “When we fight for our animals, environmentalists now have no idea what to do. There is a kind of “Santa Barbara” here, if the police teams prevent us from transporting an illegally held cougar. We sent all the documents, the commissioner canceled all the publications, everything, ”said Irma.
She claimed that the cougar that died next Tuesday would be necropsied, all organs inspected and it would finally be clear what had died. It is true that representatives of Grūtas Park suspect that the animal was injected with a harmful dose of drugs.
“It just came to our attention then. <...> When sleeping an animal, it is first necessary to observe the weather conditions. If we transport an animal from other zoos, we never transport it in summer. We ship in spring or fall. The animal is stressed by the heat, additional medicines are allowed and the heart does not tolerate them ”, the woman considered.
The cougar fell Thursday night around 7 pm Representatives from Grūtas Park kept the body in the freezer overnight, and today they put it in the car and transported it to the pathology center.
The animal was inspected during the day and died at night.
Arūnas Malinovskis, Head of the Communications Division of the Department of Environmental Protection (AAD), presented a slightly different version of the event.
“Our officials have gone to check if the animals that can be kept illegally have certain marks, that is, if chip. <...> Veterinarians from the Lithuanian zoo were invited, who put these animals to sleep and checked if they had these so-called chips, ”said A. Malinovskis.
According to him, there were no problems with the veterinary inspection procedure during the animal inspection procedure. The death of the male cougar was received only at night, after the departure of the veterinarians. Consequently, it has been a long time since the inspection was carried out.
During the inspection, it was confirmed that the animal has the required chip and officials from the Department of Environmental Protection completed the necessary documents. Still, unpleasant news reached the professionals that night.
“At night a message was received from the representatives of that company that the employees found the dead cougar when they arrived at the cage. Our inspectors have taken the necessary steps to conduct an investigation. Procedures will be carried out for that animal to find out the cause of death, “said A. Malinovskis.
The portal tv3.lt inquired about the position of the AAD regarding the complaints of the representatives of Grūtas Park that the cougar could have died from injected drugs.
A. Malinovskis replied: “The Department of Environmental Protection is not guided by speculation, therefore it is conducting an investigation. After the death of the animal, a necropsy will be performed. AAD specialists organize the procedures and professionals are invited to perform them. [iš Lietuvos zoologijos sodo – aut. past.]so that everything is done with quality and in accordance with the law. “
Cougars couldn’t be captives.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment explained in more detail why the cougar needed to be inspected. According to him, this was a normal procedure.
“One of the requirements is that all wildlife kept in captivity is tagged. Because that company does not have a zoo license and the cougar is a protected animal, in principle <...> he couldn’t be captive. This provision is fulfilled here on a global scale, not only in Lithuania ”, detailed A. Malinovskis.
He added that, in general, an animal to be protected can only be kept in captivity under special conditions, that is, in zoos. Grūtas Park’s “Mini Zoo” cannot be called a full-blown zoo, they lack a license.
The interviewee stated that the chip gives a lot of information about the animal.
“Marking is proof that an animal is nevertheless being cared for <...> is supervised by a veterinarian. Shows which animal receives certain services. He looked to see if he had that mark. <...> We use the help of professionals, “he said.
The chip inspection was carried out by specialists from the Lithuanian Zoo. It was they who decided what action to take. In this case, he fell asleep temporarily to find the chip.
A. Malinovskis noted that the inspection of the animal passed without problems. “It just came to our attention then. Notification received only at night [apie gyvūno mirtį – aut. past.]. <...> All the formalities had already been completed, the notification was simply received in addition. The assumption is this: if they had seen that something was wrong with the animal, it probably would not have left both the vets and our doctors, ”he said.
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