Swiss Zoo Accused Of Animal Cruelty For Bear Cub Deaths

Earlier this month, a zoo in Switzerland was the source of international outrage after euthanizing a healthy brown bear cub which keepers feared was in danger of being killed by its father. And now it's facing legal action, too.

In the first step towards holding the facility responsible for what may be a criminal act under the nation's strict animal welfare laws, Swiss animal-lover Kurt Nünlist has filed an official complaint against the Dählhölzli wildlife park, accusing the zoo of showing cruelty towards two bear cubs.

Nünlist and others say that the zoo was reckless for allowing the young animals to remain in the enclosure with both parents despite their father's aggression towards them. Even after one of the bears was killed, the second was allowed to suffer more abuse, prompting officials to euthanize it days later.

"I have laid charges of animal cruelty with the police and these have to be legally investigated," Nünlist tells The Local. "Whether the zoo authorities acted out of naivety or stupidity, it was animal cruelty and they can't get away with that."

Swiss law states that "pain, damage or suffering must not be unjustifiably inflicted on an animal, nor must any animal be subjected to severe anxiety."

In defense, the zoo explained that it had kept the bears together to replicate a "natural environment", which Nünlist contests. Male bears are solitary animals in the wild and do not typically remain with their offspring, he says, making the father's violence towards his cubs "predictable".

"The fact he killed the cub was in his genes, he did it because he wanted to mate with the female again," says Nünlist. "The female didn't put up a fight because if she had, the male would have killed her too."

If investigators determine that the zoo's neglect constitutes animal cruelty, it would likely result in little more than a fine -- but for Nünlist, the legal action is more about raising awareness of how animals are treated in captivity.

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