(PH) Zoo Paradise World hits foundation's croc feeding

[Guest guest]

Zoo Paradise World hits foundation's croc feeding

SunStar

Victor L. Camion

September 28, 2006

 

THE management and staff of Zoo Paradise World in Zamboanguita, Negros

Oriental denied any responsibility for the televised report showing the

feeding of live animals to their crocodiles in the zoo.

 

Sr. Dominga Responso, manager of the Zoo Paradise World of the late Fr.

Eleuterio Tropa's Spaceship 2000 E.T., was referring to a September 22

ABS-CBN TV Patrol World report accusing the zoo management of feeding live

animals to crocodiles.

 

The report featured a live goat thrashing to escape from the mouth grip of a

large crocodile. The video was reportedly shot at the Zamboanguita Zoo

Paradise World.

 

If there was anyone responsible, Responso said, it was the Animal Kingdom

Foundation Inc.

 

" Sila ang nagpakain, hindi kami, " the zoo manager said. (They were behind

that feeding, not us.)

 

Responso narrated during a press conference Monday at the VIP lounge of

Lorenzo Teves Memorial Aqua Center that several weeks before the incident,

one of the zoo's guests introduced himself as Regie de Asis and had twice

insisted on buying a live dog to feed to the crocodiles.

 

But the zoo management denied his request.

 

She said that because de Asis could not find and buy a live dog, he

allegedly bought a live cat and fed it to the crocodiles in her presence.

 

Last August 27, Responso said de Asis returned to the zoo again as a guest

and handed over P500 to buy a dog to feed to the crocodiles.

 

The zoo manager said they did not allow him to do so. The guest later left

the zoo.

 

She said she was surprised that when de Asis came back bringing with him a

police team from Zamboanguita to investigate her for alleged violation of

the Animal Welfare Act.

 

Responso said she later received a letter from Greg Salido Quimpo of the

Animal Kingdom Foundation Inc. informing the zoo management to bring the

matter to the attention of the Animal Welfare Division Bureau of the Bureau

of Animal Industry for appropriate action.

 

She said she later discovered while watching TV Patrol World that de Asis

was in fact Greg Quimpo.

 

Responso said she has no idea what Quimpo's motive is.

 

Even before the passage of the Animal Welfare Act, the Zoo Paradise World

had already been promoting animal welfare and this is proven by how it

manages its zoos nationwide, she said.

 

The caretaker said the late Fr. Tropa's vision was to prove his dedicated

mission to love animals.

 

She assured the zoo feeds its crocodiles mostly with butchered chicken,

meat, and bones of cows and pigs from the market.

 

Once in a while, Responso admitted that the zoo feeds the crocodiles with

dogs and cats or any animals accidentally killed on the road by fast running

vehicles and brought to the zoo by the owners.

 

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dum/2006/09/28/news/zoo.paradise.world.hits.fou\

ndation.s.croc.feeding.html