Officials from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) raised a series of concerns regarding animal welfare at Dublin Zoo following their most recent inspection, newly obtained documents have revealed.
The popular attraction is currently the subject of an investigation into serious allegations of animal mistreatment which were made by a whistleblower in a protected disclosure earlier this year.
However, records released under freedom of information laws show that departmental inspectors raised their own concerns about the welfare of certain animals as early as last October.
Read More:Dublin Zoo whistleblower allegations of animal mistreatment will be subject to 'full investigation'
In their report, they said the water trough of an endangered species, the zoo’s four African painted dogs, was “unclean” and “in a state of disrepair”. They also found that ventilation in the animals’ enclosure was inadequate, and the absence of any drainage was “causing issues” with cleaning.
The inspectors discovered that there were no “broach dates” on medicine bottles, meaning that it could not be established whether drugs for the animals had expired or remained safe to administer.
They expressed concern that a number of animals belonging to “social species”, including a hippo, a rhinoceros and a bongo, had been separated into smaller groups or were being housed alone. There were also some “compromises” in the way that enclosures were managed to avoid interaction problems.
The report...
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