Shocking number of animals dying at Kiev Zoo

The animals just keep on dying at the Kiev Zoo, a place one activist has likened to a concentration camp for those with fur and feathers.

Animal welfare groups say dozens if not hundreds of animals have died at the zoo in recent years due to malnutrition, a lack of medical care and mistreatment and some suspect that corruption is at the heart of the problem.

Naturewatch, a British-based animal welfare group, is among the organisations calling for the 100-year-old zoo to be closed and its animals sent elsewhere in Europe.

"The Kiev Zoo will never attain any basic standards, it's so far removed from any zoo in Europe," said John Ruane of Naturewatch. "The conditions have been absolutely horrendous and no matter how many more directors were appointed the situation still remained the same."

New managers appointed in October said that nearly half of the zoo's animals either died or mysteriously disappeared over two years under their predecessors, and a government audit found that thousands of dollars were misspent as animals were illegally sold and funds earmarked for their food and care disappeared.

Ukrainian prosecutors have also opened an investigation.But despite the management change, the zoo's animals are still dying. Some activists suspect a secret real estate deal is in the works that the zoo is being deliberately decimated so it can be closed down and the prime land that it sits on in the centre of Kiev can be sold