Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will raise issues about the well-being of staff and animals at Dublin Zoo. Serious allegations have been made about the mistreatment of animals, about a culture of bullying and mistreatment of staff and about the mismanagement of funds and there has been no independent investigation.

I will give a few examples of the treatment of animals. In October 2022, the elephant herd was divided in two and elephant bulls were left without access to fresh drinking water while in their outside habitat for nine months. They were using a contaminated water supply. That goes against the National Parks and Wildlife Service's Irish Standards of Modern Zoo Practice, which state that fresh water should be supplied on a daily basis. In early November 2023, the elephants were inappropriately sedated. They were given a powerful sedative in order to move them to Cincinnati Zoo to make them easier to manage and there was a plan to winch one of the female elephants into a transport crate, again against European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, EAZA, best practice guidelines.

There is a series of allegations relating to staff and a fundamental problem in that HR has been outsourced to a company, MSS Services, which has effectively ignored the issues raised by staff repeatedly. It is not clear why Dublin Zoo does not have its own HR department.

On the mismanagement of funds, during 2020 to 2021, as the zoo was begging for funds to keep animals fed, the lakeside lodge where the director lives as a tenant was refurbished with a hot tub, sauna and an extension and the garden was landscaped. It is not clear where the funds for those luxury items came from.

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