Update on zoo tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgia

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili declared June 15, 2015, a day of mourning for Georgia after the deadly flooding of June 13. Twenty people died and 14 are missing. Forty homes were lost, leaving 300 people homeless.

After heavy rains late Saturday June 13 and into the morning of Sunday, the Vere River overflowed and swept away dozens of cars. The Tbilisi Zoo and the Tamaz Elizbarashvili Dog Shelter were damaged and destroyed, leading to many zoo animals drowning or escaping into the city streets. To date, 8 lions, 7 tigers, and 2 jaguars died. All the bears except two died. Six of the 10 penguins died.

About half of the zoo’s animals were missing, including tigers, lions, bears, wolves, birds, and the hippopotamus. The hippopotamus, Beglar, was tranquilized with a dart gun and taken back to the zoo in good health. In fact, it was the star of foreign media.

The police and emergency services were assisted by the National Guard to clear away the debris and undertake reconstruction works. Civilians, tourists, and embassy staff assisted in the clean up. This included the removal of cars – some were in trees and on rooftops – and the carcasses of bears, tigers, and wolves. In fact there were so many volunteers, that some had to be turned away.

A white tiger was allegedly forgotten in the count of missing animals and was found when it attacked and killed a man in the city centre on June 17 while he was assisting with the clean up efforts. It attacked two people, and the second person is in hospital. The tiger escaped and the SWAT team were deployed to track it down. It was eventually shot and killed. However, for most animals on the loose, the government has said that it would use tranquilizer darts as a first option, unless other measures were required.

Tbilisi Zoo is virtually all destroyed. Animals tried to climb fences and walls to escape. Beglar the hippo managed to escape to Heroes Square. Beglar (Begi) was only dazed and confused, but otherwise fine. A similar flood in 1960 in the same area, in which the River Vere overflowed, every single animal in the Tbilisi Zoo died - except the hippopotamus. Begi is now residing on higher ground in the elephant's enclosure.

The zoo director, Zurab Gurielidze, said that one of the people killed was zoo caretaker Guiliko Kontselidze-Chitadze. She recently survived a tiger attack when she went into the cage to retrieve a boy’s toy. Her arm was mauled and it had to be amputated. She returned to the zoo two days before the flooding because she was keen to get back to work. She died in the flooding with her husband, Malkhaz (who also worked at the zoo), and an elderly employee, Givi Dvali.

The zoo director and his wife escaped by climbing onto a roof. The animals housed in the upper part of the zoo all survived. These included the ungulates, the white lions, and the leopards. A hyena was also found and rescued. 

Geologists maintain that the reason the epicentre of the flood appeared near the Tbilisi Zoo was due to a new road construction and overpass at Heroes Square, thus enclosing River Vere within narrow tunnels. The flooding was flash flooding - not a gradual rise in water. The amount of precipitation was 49mm, and within 30 minutes the banks of the river collapsed as torrential rain fell. The wave of water generated a landslide, bringing trees and debris with it that blocked the tunnels. The water, under pressure, burst through to the surface.  A Georgian urban planner said a large part of the catastrophe was due to pedestrian access ramps that initially acted like a dam, holding back the water, but it gave way to the pressure of the water and the dammed-up water crashed through and onto Tbilisi Zoo. Georgia had no Early Warning System in place.

There has been prior discussions about the relocation of the Tbilisi Zoo to the vicinity of the Tbilisi Sea so that there could be room for expansive wilderness areas.