Fresh horror at zoo where animals were 'clubbed to death' as it is revealed they were then 'fed to Polish park workers'
A zoo where keepers killed animals using baseball bats and crow bars - in a bid to save on veterinary fees - has now been accused of feeding parts of the dead creatures to to Polish guest workers.
Former employees at the park revealed the horrific living conditions of the animals at Ölands Animal and Amusement Park in Sweden earlier this week, but now it seems the atrocious treatment extend to the staff as well.
Employees at the popular tourist attraction were forced to work under ‘slave like’ conditions and were fed goats, hens and even a pig that had been put down at the park.
One worker, identified as Anna, said: ‘Sometimes we would give the animals a small injection afterwards. If there was an inspection no one would notice that they had been put down the wrong way. They often kill goats with a simple knife to the throat.'
Guest workers from Poland and Bulgaria work in the zoo over the summer and live in cramped conditions close to the park, located on the popular tourist island in the Baltic sea.
Animal carer Mats told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said: ‘People say the animals are treated badly, but if they only knew what the situation is like for the employees.
‘The guest staff work under slave-like conditions, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with no entitlement to sick leave or days off. Those who complain have to take the return bus back home.’
Food is included in the contract and Niclas, another former employee, revealed that the guest workers were fed animals that had been put down in the park, giving examples of a goat and hens.
He reveals he once butchered a pig at the zoo to give the workers meat, adding: ‘They were so hungry and hadn't had any nutritious food for weeks.'
Anna added: ‘They often had to eat monkey food. Old bread and old fruit which had been donated to the park by local grocers on the island or nearby Kalmar on the mainland.'
The stories from behind the cheery facade of the zoo, which welcomes visitors with a sign of two playing chimpanzees, has horrified and sickened the nation and animal lovers worldwide.
On Wednesday Pia Westen, 19, revealed that the park had refused to let carers bottle feed a litter of lion cubs ignored by their mother.
Two of them starved to death before carers were allowed to feed the other two.
Staff were ordered to hide the suffering lion cubs behind tarpaulin sheets, with Westen saying: '[Supervisors] didn’t want visitors seeing them lying there, dying. The animal caretakers really wanted to save them but they weren't allowed until two of them had starved to death.’
Caroline Ryding worked at the park for two months in 2011 and claims she quit her job after witnessing 'permanent maltreatment of the animals'.
She said: 'A coati - a Brazilian aardvark - was beaten to death with a baseball bat or a crow bar. And we were told afterwards not to tell the zoo vet.'
'They had no room for them and couldn't afford a vet. The owners told us not to say anything because what they did was illegal.'
Last year the company made a £1.2m profit and the park’s director Barbro Hägg has been given an estimated £2.4m in salary and shares in the past five years.
Zoo spokesman Hans Uhrus claimed the care was of high standard and that the zoo was regularly checked by vets and the County Administration Board.
He said: 'We always take great care in dealing with our animals. We have regular controls of our business under the animal protection act through inspections. The board has had no complaints against the park'.
This claim was backed up by the park’s veterinarian Karl Johan Nordfelt.
He said: 'As the park's veterinary surgeon I visit the park at least once a week to see the animals and how they are kept.
'The animals' well-being is checked every day by the staff on site and I control how they are kept during my regular visits.
'I have nothing to comment on regarding the care of the animals in the park.'
The animal park, on the Baltic island of Öland’, off Sweden's east coast, is estimated to be home to over 650 animals of over 100 different species.
