Or is it reigning? In case you wonder where the saying “it’s raining cats and dogs” comes from…
The fantasy every animal loving youngster has had comes alive in Tbilisi, Georgia after floodwaters ravaged the town, causing half of the city’s zoo animals escape Tbilisi Zoo and roam free in the city. Over 300 animals escape the zoo’s enclosures including bears, crocodile, hippopotamus, wolves and wild cats went missing from their pens.
The floodwaters damaged the Tbilisi Zoo’s enclosures releasing the majority of its wild animals, including its fish and birds. A number of these have been retrieved again but things are still out of control. Actually, according to Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs the situation is “under full control” (CNN).
Extreme rainfall flooded the Vere river. The Vere rivers runs through Tbilisi’s center. Many highways, cars and homes were very badly damaged as a result of such intense flooding. Rescue workers were forced to carry people on their shoulders to get them out harm’s way in waist-high waters. Police helicopters were able to evacuate 16 from Akhaldaba, near Tbilisi, where the roads were too badly damaged for mobility. There are 12 known human casualties according to officials, including two zoo employees. In addition, several dozens are missing.
Revenge of the Caged Beasts?
If you were a kid fantasizing about such things as your favorite animals escaping from the zoo and running free, your fantasy might naively exclude the animals escape including animals full of rampaging hunger. With footage of a crocodile roaming city streets, and a hippopotamus described in reports to be “standing around looking confused”, it’s hard not to think the worse. At least until the animals are rounded up, the Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili advises all citizens to stay at home.
However, there have not been true, official reports that any of the human casualties were killed by animals. Remarkable because a hippopotamus, a very, very aggressive animal able to outrun humans in short bursts hovered about the middle of a town square. He was promptly shot with a tranquilizer dart.
Police were also produced to participate in big-game hunting to protect the city’s citizens, having to shoot down and kill many of the bigger animals. There have been reports on dead lions, boar, tiger, and many wolves. Hopefully the (toothless) turtles had a happier ending…
It’s just that people are worried for their young. The zoo escape puts both adults and children at risk because the roaming animals could be anywhere. When animals escape, they tend to be lost, hungry from lack of feed, and lost from being captive and used to enclosures–and nothing or little else.
Tbilisi Zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze said that it is not possible to count all of the animals escaped from the zoo because the majority of the enclosures had been flooded. A lot of the evidence is under water. This inability to have a sense of whether all or most of the escaped animals have been recaptured is one of the things that will make it hard to really put things back in control.
You’re going to want a security system in case of the animals escape coming to your home. Blink Wireless Home Monitoring System might be your peace of mind:
