Flood Kills 80 Percent of Animals at Nigerian Zoo and Sets Loose 'Crocodiles and Snakes'

Mar. 15, 2025

Flooding in the Borno state in northeast Nigeria.Photo:AUDU MARTE/AFP via Getty

AUDU MARTE/AFP via Getty

A recent flood in Nigeria has decimated the animal population of one local zoo in the area, according to news sources.

The zoo manager also said that flood waters allowed several dangerous reptiles held at the facility to escape the zoo. He told people to watch for the creatures, which may have “washed” out into residential areas.

“Some deadly animals have been washed away into our communities, like crocodiles and snakes,” Best said, per the outlets, adding that people should “take all the necessary precautions [and] measures to avoid these animals.”

Don Best toldBBCthat they were able to locate and bring back some animals, including an ostrich filmed on the loose in the city of Maiduguri.

“We’ve been able to recapture the ostrich seen on the street, and we also got a call that a crocodile had been found in another location, but we cannot get there due to the floods,” he said.

The manager also told the outlet that the zoo had received reports about other animals on the streets but noted that those don’t belong to the zoo.

“We got a report that a hippo was seen somewhere, and we don’t have hippos in the zoo, so the waters might also disperse animals from other locations,” he explained.

The collapse of the Alau dam has caused some of the area’s worst flooding in decades, according to AP. The dam had already been at full capacity due to heavy rains, which hit the region over the last few days, per the outlet.

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Nahum Daso, the state’s police spokesperson, told AP in a statement that about 15% of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, had been underwater due to the floods. However, it is unknown how many people may have died as a result of the flooding, as a death toll has not yet been released.

source: people.com