SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
On Saturday, the Skopje Zoo was evacuated and a decision to issue a 21-day ban on work was issued because the presence of HPAI A(H5N1) bird flu was confirmed. The carrier was a goose that, it is assumed, had flown into the Zoo several days prior.
The Agency’s teams evacuated visitors and humanely put to death around 30 birds who were in the area of the goose that had died.
However, the Zoo said that the Agency inspectors had stormed it without a decision, warrant or any other proof, and killed several tens of birds. In addition, it announced it would file charges against the Agency’s head, alleging that PM Hristijan Mickoski was in the background of the problem.
“This morning, without a warrant, decision or any other proof, Agency inspectors, accompanied by persons carrying weapons, stormed the Zoo and massacred the birds. Without an explanation, these people, on the basis of an order from the Agency’s head, killed several tens of birds that had been freely walking in the Zoo,” it was added in the press-release as well.
The Zoo’s stand is that the goal is to “create a new made-up problem and get an alibi for the closure of the Zoo in order to harm its reputation”.
According to Public Health Institute Director Marija Andonovska, four Zoo employees will be placed under health supervision. One of them, who has fever and diarrhoea, will be tested.
The Agency said that the Zoo, even though it had detected the dead goose on 14 October, had failed to act according to the law, which said that it had to report any infectious disease suspicion to the relevant official veterinarian.
