Iran: 14 Lions Killed in Tehran Zoo · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Environmental bloggers are angry and concerned about the killing of 14 lions in Tehran Zoo. Iranian media reported that the lions were put down because they were diagnosed with an infectious bacterial disease, glanders, which is more commonly found in horses, donkeys, and mules. Two weeks earlier, a Siberian tiger sent to the Tehran Zoo as part of an exchange program with Russia died after being fed contaminated meat.
Houman, a veterinary doctor writes [fa] in his blog, Troubles of a veterinary:
We no longer hear the groaning of lions… Yesterday they killed 9 lions. Just like that. Because of their sickness. Because they ate infected donkey's meat. A sickness that could have been cured… It was about two weeks ago that we took a blood test… I am really sad. Time to move, and leave here.
Varteh writes  [fa]:
It is very sad to see a lion in cage. The Lion knows its humiliation… It died like a soldier… Previously in this damn zoo, I saw another terrible scene. Domestic dogs in a cage waiting for a hand to caress them. You can just imagine these dogs on a couch, not on the cold ground…
Kelk, another Iranian blogger, with irony says, that it seems these lions were accused of hostility against the regime and were executed.
United4Iran writes that there is mismanagement in Tehran Zoo and recalls that a few days after the death of the Siberian tiger, 14 lions were killed.
Mojgan Jamshidi, a blogger and journalist, writes  [fa] that importing the Siberian tiger was just a gesture of propaganda for the Iranian authorities, and that from the first step everything was done wrong, and they did not get any appropriate care.