Swedish zoo fire 'only killed spiders'

Updated
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A fire at a zoo in Sweden has left the majority of its animals unharmed - except for a group of spiders.

Around 25 firefighters and three trucks were called to the Helsingborg Zoo at around 10pm on Wednesday.

The fire is thought to have started in the zoo's rare Chinese alligator enclosure, but the cause is still unclear.

According to thelocal.se, zoo owner Mats Hafström told the TT news agency: "I guess you could say that this could have been a lot worse.

"A number of spiders are gone but most of the animals survived. It's lucky that there are a lot of water-dwelling animals as birds and mammals wouldn't have survived the smoke."

The news comes just weeks after another zoo was blasted for putting down a healthy giraffe.

Copenhagen Zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro said it put down the male giraffe, named Marius, using a bolt pistol and fed its meat to carnivores in the zoo.

Doncaster-based Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP) said it was saddened to hear the reports from Copenhagen that the animal had been euthanised, and had put in a call to offer to rehome it.

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, a zoo was recently blasted for killing a healthy bear cub after keepers say it was being bullied by its dad.

The cub was one of the twin cubs who had been born in mid-January to father Misha and his partner Masha, two brown bears who had been donated to the Dahlholzli zoo in the Swiss capital Bern in 2009 by then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and his wife as a gift.



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