POLICE are investigating following the deaths of two goats at Walton Gardens Children’s Zoo following a break in at the weekend.
Two animals died and a number of others were left seriously ill after aparently being fed rhododendron leaves.
A spokesperson for Walton Hall and Gardens childrens zoo said: “We are very sorry to say that two of our goats have died after they were poisoned with rhododendron leaves.
“It appears that someone has broken into the zoo and fed the leaves to the animals.
“While we hope this wasn’t done with malice the result is the same and we’ve lost two of our well-loved animals and several more are ill.
“We would stress that nobody should feed the animals at the zoo as they have very specific diets and this can have serious consequences.
“The matter is now in the hands of the police.”
It is understoof a third goat had to be put to sleep later.
2 Comments
That’s so sad and the goats there are so lovely and funny to watch 🙁
Like the news story said maybe whoever fed them the rhododendron leaves had no idea that they were poisonous to the poor little things. They are also toxic to other animals such as dogs and horses and to some extent to humans too but most probably don’t realise the dangers.
All that aside though the person/people BROKE IN to the Children’s Zoo so they need to be caught and held to account for their actions and charged with breaking and entering and also animal cruelty leading to what must have been a painful death for two the goats and for the suffering caused to the others who are now very ill 🙁
I hope the others get better….
Does the Children’s Zoo not have CCTV cameras ? Surely it should have especially for out of hours when it’s locked to the public but the rest of estate grounds are still accessible to all 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Diz, I can’t imagine anyone being stupid enough not to realise the dangers. Kids are taught in school from a very early age not to feed animals in case it is poisonous to them. So, sadly, I think this was most probably done on purpose by people with very sick minds.