Liberec Zoo sea lion dies after swallowing child’s toy, raising safety concerns

A sea lion died at a zoo in the north Bohemian city of Liberec at the weekend after part of a child’s toy evidently got stuck in its gullet. Two other sea lions also died by choking at the institution in the past.

A large male South American sea lion named Hugo was found dead in its pool at Liberec Zoom by a member of staff on Saturday morning.

Sea lion named Hugo|Photo: Zoo Liberec

Melichar is the facility’s chief zookeeper.

“There were no indications that he had any medical issues. He was behaving normally, eating during feeding time – there wasn’t any problem with him prior to this.”

However, two days before the seal lion was found dead, the body of a small child’s plastic doll had been discovered in its water.

And a postmortem carried out on the body found that the head of the doll had been lodged between the animal’s stomach and small intestine. Officials found no other potential cause of death.

The sea lion was relatively old at 17 years of age but – with the number of them in captivity declining – was considered a valuable male within the European breeding programme.

Photo: Zoo Liberec

The fact the headless body of the doll was found in the animal’s pool has led to questions as to whether enough action was taken. But officials say they had few options.

Head zookeeper Melichar told Novinky.cz that nobody had seen the sea lion swallow part of the doll.

Furthermore, examining the animal internally would have required anesthetising it, which is considered both difficult and risky. What’s more, a piece of plastic would not have shown up on X-ray or ultrasound.

The zoo’s director, David Nejedlo, said it was not known where the body of the doll had gone, and it would not have made sense to expose the animal to extreme stress, Novinky.cz reported.

Hugo was the last sea lion at Liberec Zoo, which had kept the animals since the mid-1970s. And he was not the first to evidently meet its demise in this way. Two other sea lions died at the zoo because of foreign objects in their digestive tracts.

Sea lion named Hugo|Photo: Zoo Liberec

Following the second death a decade ago, the zoo made changes to a barrier separating visitors from the sea lions’ pool and installed cameras. There are now plans to reinforce the camera system.

However, it is not clear whether Liberec Zoo will acquire more sea lions. Luboš Melichar again.

“They don’t do so great in zoos.  It will only be possible to place sea lions in spaces made for larger groups, as that is natural for them. Also there is trend to keep them in saltwater, which we don’t possess.”

Laboratory tests are still being carried out, meaning the choking explanation is still officially considered provisional.