来源:倍可亲(backchina.com)
在亚美尼亚的一个小镇上有一家动物园,堪称世界条件最差,里面只有3头狮子,2只熊和2只豚鼠,这些动物饥饿、孤独又绝望,在狭小的笼子里惶惶度日,十分可怜。
为了能够在丛林主题派对上跟朋友炫耀,一名亚美尼亚亿万富翁突发奇想,买下这些动物。然而这位富豪很快就遗弃了它们,动物园已经两年多无人问津。
在镜头下,这些动物们或是绝望地用头撞墙,或是孤苦伶仃地看着笼子外的世界,它们终日饥肠辘辘,狼狈不堪。一对老夫妻偶然间发现这个动物园,便开始照顾它们。二人用屠宰场残渣来喂养这些动物,勉强使它们生存下来。
Left to rot: One of the starving bears who has been abandoned inside the world’s worst zoo once owned by an Armenian oligarch who bought them as entertainment to parade before his friends in themed jungle parties before vanishing while reportedly fleeing mobsters
One of the lions bangs his head against his cage wall, displaying all the signs of a creature being driven mad by their unnatural existence
Malnourished: The zoo is in the Armenian town of Gyumri – but it has been over two years since it saw a paying guest
Sad sight: A bear stares forlornly through the bars of its tiny cage in the desperate hope food may eventually come its way
Forlorn: The ragged, hungry and bewildered tenants – lioness Mary, seven, and her cubs Geeta, four, and Zita, two, along with bears Masha, four, and Grisha, nine – are cared for by an elderly couple who simply stumbled upon them one day
Starving: The animals scrape along on a diet of slaughterhouse scraps brought to them by an elderly couple fighting to keep them alive
In Limbo: The civic authorities refuse to take on any responsibility for the animal and the whereabouts of their former owner is unknown
Occasionally a vet may pop in to examine the animals from outside the cages. But no-one has any money to pay for a proper examination
Desperate for scraps: The animals are looked after by an elderly couple who barely have enough money for themselves
A bear reaches out to grab a fish held by two pensioners who have taken it upon themselves to feed the starving animals
’God’s creatures in pain’: Pensioners Hovhamnes and Alvina Madoyan try their best to care for the animals after they were abandoned
He added: ‘They are sad and lonely and, when they can be bothered, pace up and down their cages, showing the signs of being driven mad by boredom and inactivity.
Ramshackle: Pensioners Hovhamnes and Alvina Madoyan outside the zoo in the Armenian town of Gyumri
Life in danger: There are fears that the harsh winter might prove lethal for the lion cubs at the zoo in Armenia