The Government’s animal welfare regulator is probing into records of animal deaths and injuries at Orana Wildlife Park, following a 1News investigation.
It comes after the Ministry for Primary Industries announced a “rapid assessment” at the Christchurch zoo.
On Sunday, 1News revealed new details about the deaths of several animals at the Park, including a gorilla named Mahali. He died in 2021 after suffering from a rare bacterial infection.
Read more: Buried trauma: Zookeepers expose animal deaths at Orana Wildlife Park
The 1News investigation involved comments from 20 current and former employees at the zoo, who – among other deaths – revealed a newborn giraffe had escaped to an outdoor enclosure and died in 2021.
Following the story the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) immediately sent an animal welfare team to the Park for two days of assessments, which finished yesterday.
That work found a tiger at the zoo appeared to be underweight. But there was no evidence of neglect, and there was a plan to address the issue, MPI’s director of compliance and response Glen Burrell said.
Other than this, MPI found no immediate animal welfare or staffing issues.
MPI says its assessment including talking to senior keepers and noted “the zoo’s staff were adequately trained or had relevant work experience and that there were good procedures in place for the welfare of the animals”.
An investigation was already underway into the death of an antelope, understood to be Ijefe – a buck who died in June, and had featured in 1News’ reporting.
Some current zookeepers had made anonymous pleas for help in the 1News investigation, saying they were understaffed and didn’t have time to care for all the animals.
In response, Orana said it was proactively filling vacant roles.
MPI noted the Park had six vacancies, but it considered Orana has “enough staff to provide an acceptable standard of care to the animals”.
Burrell says the complaints about the zoo appeared largely historical, but said they were “serious in nature”.
MPI is increasing its checks of the Park and will have teams on site every three months, rather than once a year as it had previously.
He was now requiring the zoo to provide MPI with records of all deaths and injuries to animals to see what follow-up actions were taken.
“This work will take more time,” he said.
Orana has said it reports all deaths on its premises to MPI.
“In the meantime, we encourage anyone with information related to animal welfare concerns at the zoo to contact us,” Burrell said.
Complaints can be made online or by free calling 0800 00 8333.