On Friday June 12, my younger daughter went on a school field trip to the Tbilisi Zoo. It was a hot but otherwise fairly unremarkable day. The children divided into groups and filled out worksheets about the animals they observed. The Tbilisi Zoo contains approximately 300 animals and a ramshackle amusement park.
But to be honest I've always found it a depressing place because the enclosures are cramped, it is surely underfunded, and it's located below the highway in a river valley with noxious traffic fumes saturating the air.
The day following their visit, there was a heavy all-night rainstorm and, to our shock, the zoo flooded, the entire river valley was washed out, and animals were running loose across the city. It was surreal.
We didn't leave the apartment for a while, we live very near the affected area. There were animal sightings all day, helicopters flying over, police sirens blaring, and chaos in the streets (of course chaos in the streets is par for the course in Georgia).
About half of the animals were lost in the disaster, many were shot by the security forces who apparently have never heard of tranquilizers. Traffic for a few days following the flood was epically bad. The highway we used to take every day is irreparably damaged and will need to be redesigned, which means many months before it will be safe to travel.
The mood in town has been heavy. And the authorities have not been transparent: every few days we are told all the animals have been found, and then another animal appears. Many people are in constant fear of another attack. We feel quite safe between our home, school, and work, but the underlying tension is wearying. We will be eager to come back to the US this summer.
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