Zoo flooded:
Escaped lions, bears and a hippo roam the streets of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, after a deluge that killed at least 12 people.
TBILISI, Georgia — Escaped lions, bears and a hippopotamus from the Tbilisi Zoo roamed the streets of the Georgian capital Sunday, after flooding killed at least 12 people.
Georgian leaders asked residents to stay inside as they sought to track down the escaped animals, which added a chaotic element to an already painful natural disaster. The hippopotamus swam out of its enclosure and onto the central Heroes’ Square, eating leaves off a tree before being shot with a tranquilizer dart in front of a Swatch store.
The animals on the loose created an unpredictable backdrop for rescue efforts. Rescuers used rafts and inflatable boats to reach people trapped by flooding. At least one lion and one bear were shot and killed by police, and a hyena chased a security guard across part of a university campus before it, too, was shot dead.
At least 12 people have been confirmed dead so far and more are missing. Many of the zoo’s animals also perished or are missing.
“The situation is rather difficult,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said. “We haven’t seen anything like this in Tbilisi before.”
About 1.1 million people live in the Georgian capital.
Among the dead was one zoo worker, Guliko Chitadze, who had an arm amputated two weeks ago after a tiger mauled it. She had returned to work just a few days ago. Her husband, also a zoo worker, was also killed, zoo spokeswoman Mzia Sharashidze said. The workers had spent the night on zoo premises to feed newborn animals.
Sharashidze said bears, lions, tigers, jaguars and wolves were among the animals that escaped.
“I can’t imagine this tragedy,” she said. “Almost the whole zoo is underwater.”
Torrential rains late Saturday and early Sunday poured down on Tbilisi, a hilly city that is along a river valley. The Tbilisi Zoo lies along the banks of the Vere River, which overflowed and caught the animals in their pens and cages.