Director General of Veterinary Medicine in Lorestan: 'Stoning' of the Persian Gazelle is 'a lie'

On April 14, the Fars News Agency published a report about the 'stoning' of an Iranian yellow deer with a stillborn fetus in its abdomen. The Iranian yellow deer is considered a rare and endangered species in Iran's nature. This incident, which occurred in a zoo in Lorestan province, faced many reactions from Iranian citizens. Radio Farda interviewed Ebrahim Tavakoli, the Director General of Veterinary Medicine in Lorestan province: 'After the incidents that occurred and the discussions you had, there are still points... I have not spoken anywhere; I do not know what they are saying in my name; God will judge. I have seen that in some places it has been stated that... unfortunately, it has been said in my name... I wanted to know, what is the story of this incident regarding the Iranian yellow deer? Well, this was a deer... a deer is a highly stressed animal; it is sensitive to stress. The deer was pregnant, which increases its stress. Now, humans also have stress when they are pregnant. It was a holiday period after all, the crowd caused stress to it. Someone made a movement, but I am not very informed. We quickly brought a veterinarian, who performed an autopsy; there was absolutely no disease, the diagnosis given was that excessive stress was inflicted on the animal, causing it to panic and hit the fence. Because there is a slope there, upon hitting the fence, it turned and rolled over and eventually died. The Director General of Veterinary Medicine in Lorestan stated: No one has seen anyone throw a stone. Now it has been written somewhere in my name that I said they 'stoned' it. One is ashamed to hear such things. So what was the story of stone-throwing by visitors? Well, you see, these are narratives that we hear here and there. No one has seen anyone throw a stone. Now it has been written somewhere in my name that they 'stoned' it. One is ashamed to hear such things. Lying in the name of someone! I do not know how some people say these things. Were there surveillance cameras there that might have recorded this? No, unfortunately, we do not have cameras there; if we did, we could easily prove our truth. We could prove these lies that have been said. But now we can only swear and say that such a thing did not happen. Various reports have been heard from the Kasit Zoo in Khorramabad, and even some responsible environmental officials have expressed concerns about the way these animals are kept there; apparently, the responsibility for supervision is now with you? Yes, it has been under the veterinary authority for four years despite our unwillingness. It is not inherently the duty of the veterinary service to do such things; decisions were made that must have been appropriate at the time and there was no other way. But the environment has said that a series of standards were not observed in its construction. They are specialists; you should ask them about this. I cannot comment. But do you, as a supervisor, not see any shortcomings there? For example, a report from Fars News Agency quoted you about African lions. You said they do not have enough space and that space is not enough for even one lion. Absolutely and completely, I have never said such a thing anywhere. Not at all! If they said it, it was said by environmental colleagues. I am not in a position to comment on the status of animals. This means you even deny that it has been quoted from you that you called for the closure of this zoo? This has been said by the environment; I did not say it. Now the same sentence you mentioned, I saw its telegram or I saw it on a website... I do not know. I said it was from the environmental office; I did not say such a thing. Given your responsibility and expertise, how is the condition of these animals in that zoo? In terms of health, I assure you, because it is my specialty. They are completely healthy. Just know that, for example, a pregnant animal has an ideal weight and good food; this animal is healthy. The animals there are in very good condition in terms of weight and food. We have always carried out the necessary vaccinations for each animal against various diseases such as B, P, R, foot-and-mouth disease, etc.