Zoo animals including lions on the loose in Tbilisi as Georgia floods kill 12

At least 12 people have died and a number more are missing after heavy rainfall and floods overnight in Georgia. Heavy rainfall turned the Vere river, which flows through the capital Tbilisi, into a torrent that swept away dozens of buildings and cars. Animals from the city’s zoo, including tigers, lions, bears and wolves, escaped from cages damaged by the rainfall. Three zoo workers are among the dead, and 10 more people are missing. An escaped hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city’s main squares and subdued with a tranquiliser gun.

Some 20 wolves, eight lions, white tigers, tigers, jackals, jaguars have either been shot dead by special forces or are missing. Only three out of our 17 penguins were saved.

Zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze

Some other animals have been located, but it remains unclear how many are on the loose. Zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze told the InterPressNews agency the facility has been turned into a “hellish whirlpool”. Some other animals have been located, but it remains unclear how many are on the loose.There are no reports that any of the fatalities were due to animal attacks. The zoo said one of those who died was Guliko Chitadze, a zookeeper who lost an arm in an attack by a tiger last month. The Interfax news agency reported that her husband also died in the flooding. A preliminary estimate has put the damages at $10m, according to Irakly Lekvinadze, vice mayor of Tbilisi. The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, was quoted by Interfax as telling a mass that Georgia’s former Communist rulers could be seen as being involved in the disaster.

Dozens of families remain homeless as their houses were destroyed or damaged in the capital.

Irakly Lekvinadze, vice mayor of Tbilisi

World Tbilisi