Dispute grows over killing of escaped puma

A condolence flower, messages and a picture of “Pporongi” the puma is attached to the main gate of O World Zoo in Daejeon, two days after the animal was killed following its escape from an enclosure. Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

After a puma escaped from a zoo in Daejeon and was shot dead, a dispute is growing over whether killing it was the only option.

The eight-year-old female puma named “Pporongi” was killed Tuesday, four-and-a-half hours after it escaped from its cage, which a zookeeper forgot to lock after the morning clean-up.

After its escape, the animal was first found nearby the reservoir in the O World Zoo and a member of the emergency response services shot it twice with a tranquilizer gun. However, Pporongi ran away before staff could capture her. Then the emergency team and zoo staff decided to kill the puma for the safety of town residents. When the animal was spotted again, they shot it dead with live ammunition.

The killing provoked a backlash as many people felt sorry for the puma, saying it had done nothing wrong and it was the zookeeper's fault for leaving the cage unlocked for her to escape.

A number of people have visited the zoo to memorialize the animal by placing messages on the front gate reading, “Sorry, we couldn't do anything to help” and “We will not forget you.”

“I remember Pporongi in the zoo last year when I came with my girlfriend. I feel sad that it was killed instead of being captured,” said a man in his 30s during an interview with local media.

Some people argued that the zoo and the zookeeper should also be punished for careless control of the facility.

The issue has grown and some animal rights advocates have even called for the abolishment of zoos in the country.

Over 60 online petitions related to the issues have been posted on Cheong Wa Dae's website as of Thursday, and some of them gained over 20,000 people's signatures.

The petition with the most participants wrote: “It is torture for wild animals to be locked up in a zoo and to not be protected. Zoos giving stress to the animals should be abolished. The puma only moved on instinct and it should never have been shot dead.”

The regional environment authorities issued a warning to the zoo Wednesday for failing to properly control the animal.

Regarding the controversy, Daejeon City Corp. (DCCO), which owns the zoo, said it acted according to its safety manual and if the puma had not been killed, it could have attacked residents.

“It would have been better if we had captured the puma alive. But we have to go by the manual if it is an emergency,” You Young-kyoon, the CEO of DCCO, said. “A puma is a species we have to protect but we failed to do so as it was getting darker and things could've gone worse if it got out of the zoo.”

The DCCO sent emergency text messages to citizens living nearby the zoo advising them to stay home after the puma escaped.

Meanwhile, the National Science Museum asked for the dead body of the puma to the DCCO, saying it wants to stuff the animal to use it for educational purposes.

However, this only aggravated the backlash of people who said it would be like killing the puma twice, and also infringed on the “dignity of life.”

Following this public response, the DCCO announced it would incinerate the animal's body and not give it to the museum.