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Drugged meat botch-up leaves NZ zoo lioness dead |
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| NEW ZEALAND: November 15, 2001 | ||
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WELLINGTON - A lioness has become the second animal to die at New Zealand's Wellington Zoo after eating meat accidentally tainted with huge amounts of a tranquillising drug, zoo officials said this week.
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The 14-year-old lioness, Mara, was put down by zoo staff on Saturday after she ate the meat which aggravated an existing kidney disorder, Zoo director Alison Lash told Reuters. "It's awful... two in quick succession and as a result of something that makes (staff) feel so helpless," she said. Jambi, a rare Sumatran tiger, died at the zoo 10 days ago - four days after eating from the same batch of contaminated meat. New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has suspended the operations of the petfood-processing company which supplied the tainted meat until its investigation into the case is completed. Jambi's mate Catik and a second lion also ate the meat but had not yet shown any ill effects, Lash added.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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