Since last year, a lot of establishments are struggling to keep their doors open for the public because of Covid-19. Since then, there has been cases of animals being abandoned by zookeepers due to financial strains.

For instance, a zoo located in Daegu closed down leaving animals in their cages without food and water making them feel vulnerable. The situation is worse than it seems. The animals left behind have to suffer in an unsanitary environment.

Having been left unattended for a year has caused many of them to die in agony. On the bright side, some of the animals were able to survive thanks to the efforts of those families living nearby. Residents who witnessed the dying animals provided water and food.

These families carried heavy loads of feed and fruit boxes for more than 10 months. They had to carry up these supplies to its location in the mountains, if not because of them, those animals wouldn't have survived.

There was a law implemented to protect the animals, the "Wildlife Protection and Management Act" and "The Zoo and Aquarium Management Act". For this case, the zoos and Aquarium management Act were initially involved.

On the other hand, there are no specific guidelines for the biological management plan in case of closure. Before being punished for violating the law, there is still a poor implementation of how to protect animals exposed to the risk of neglect.

Since the suspension of operations, hundreds of international endangered species have not been properly managed, leading to zoos that remain unaccounted for. More zoos and aquariums are closing due to Covid-19. It is time to look again to see if there's another loophole in animal protection.

L.L.F reporter Bo-ra Park