Zoo on Fire

Adéla Jarolímková

Recently we have celebrated New Year´s Eve and as usual, people set off fireworks to celebrate it. But this time it went out of control. In Krefeld Zoo in Germany the "worsts fears have become reality" announced the zoo on its Facebook profile. A few minutes before midnight a blaze tore through the monkey enclosure and dozens of monkeys were killed that night.
The building was completely burned and it caused deaths of 30 apes and some other animals. Luckily 2 chimps (called Bally and Limbo) saved themselves and escaped soon enough as well as a family of gorillas in the next building. Now all the survivors are recovering. Unfortunately the oldest gorilla in Europe, called Massa, died at the age of 48.
This terrible fire was caused by lanterns. A 60-year-old woman and her two adult daughters turned themselves in after the incident. They are investigated for arson and they can be sentenced for 5 years in prison for a deadly crime. They have a big problem because they used lanterns which are illegal in Germany, unlike fireworks. These three women claim that they bought them online without knowing that they were illegal. The police did not give many information about the suspects but they described them as sensible and responsible people.
This was an enormous tragedy and people all over the world are in grief. Even some supermarkets in Germany stopped selling fireworks because of this accident. A lot of German citizens offered help and some money was donated. The Krefeld Zoo remained on Wednesday and Thursday closed. They are still in shock but everyone is hoping and praying for a recovery.