(March 30) -- It is technically the year of the Tiger in China -- but animal advocates may argue otherwise.
The remains of more than 40 rare animals, including white tigers, have been discovered in a mass grave at a zoo in northeast China, according to state media. This comes just weeks after it was learned that at least 11 rare Siberian tigers died of malnutrition at a cash-strapped preserve in Liaoning Province.
Reports in China said the most recent deaths came after budgetary concerns prompted the zoo to change the animals' diets in 2007, replacing the usual beef and mutton with chicken and corn buns.
Two white tigers, five white lions and two leopards were among the animal carcasses in a snow-covered, 10-foot-deep grave at the Harbin Northern Forest Zoo in Heilongjiang province, according to a Chinese report. Five other big cats, two Asian elephants and 28 of the zoo's 29 great bustards -- large, endangered birds -- were also buried there. Most of the cats died in 2008, according to reports.
Zoo officials told the Times of London that the animals died of illness or natural causes. The animals were buried in the grave, which they said was regularly disinfected, only because the zoo cannot afford an incinerator, the officials said. But other reports citing zoo employees examined how faltering finances may have translated to poor nutrition for the animals in captivity.
One Harbin employee said the animals are struggling as the zoo feeds more than 80 percent of its creatures bean cakes to help sustain their protein levels.
"The animals eat this feed every day and many can only just stay alive," the employee told the Times. "Death is coming closer and closer."
Even the zoo's group of treasured golden monkeys are only eating three varieties of fruit instead of the recommended six, the employee said, and the quality of the fruit was poor.
Zhang Xinru, deputy head of the feeding department of the zoo, told the Times that the animals initially survived the 2007 dietary changes until six months after the meat was removed from their meals, when their body weights plummeted and 14 big cats died. Officials resumed feeding them beef and mutton, but the animals still suffered from malnutrition.
Chinese newspaper reports have alleged that zoos were breeding Siberian tigers in captivity to produce tiger-bone liquor, hailed in China as a virility booster. A Chinese journalist who went undercover at the Harbin Zoo, where more than 1,000 tigers have been bred, said he was offered tiger-bone tonic.
The Shenyang Zoo, where 13 Siberian tigers died over the past three months, was closed earlier this month. Two of the hungry Siberians were killed after attacking a zookeeper, reports said.
