As well as aiming to gain EAZA membership within the next 5 years, Tbilisi will also welcome a new species this year in the form of Humboldt Penguins. The birds are expected to travel from the UK in July The New Life of Tbilisi Zoo : By Eka Karsaulidze : Georgia Today on the Web
It will be actually Jackass penguins or at least that is what I saw passing by in Georgian articles. And although Tbilisi Zoo still has a lot of work to do I have seen the Zoo do a lot of improvements the last 7 years. In a challenging situation they do great work.
This elephant (Grand, born in Moscow zoo, 1995) is suffering from tusk problems caused by unwise exhibit construction and lack of enrichment. He will undergo surgery in Tbilisi but it's unclear if he would survive... And Erevan zoo gets a young bull that was born in Tbilisi zoo in 2007 and kept with his mother until now.
Rhino and donkey befriend at Tbilisi Zoo : WATCH: Rhino befriends donkey at Georgia Zoo - National | Globalnews.ca
And there were no official news about death of rhino male. Poor rhino, I'm 99% sure he was incinerated...
I wouldn't jump to conclusions so fast. The male could have been send to the Natural History museum. Unfortunately I haven't been in Georgia for over a year now so I missed the death and I have no clue what happened to the body. I ll be there again in November and can check. And KB they were indeed imported in 2011. In that period quite some African animals were imported besides these rhinos. Among others Kirk's dikdik and African civet.
I doubt that local NHM has the resources to cope with full body of the rhino (as well as the bull elephant that died several years before). Only trophy pachyderms are valued now, and captive-dead ones are treated like waste. Other rhinos of post-Soviet zoos that died recently (1.1 in Rostov and 1.0 in Kaliningrad) were destroyed, except head & foot preserved in Kaliningrad zoo.
A senior keeper is in a critical condition in hospital, following a Tiger attack at the zoo yesterday Agenda.ge - Tbilisi Zoo: Tigers attack caretaker, woman in critical condition
Plans have been unveiled for the new Tbilisi Zoo Construction of New Zoo Starts in Tbilisi - Georgia Today on the Web
From zoos all over Europe Tbilisi Zoo will recieve a shipment of around 100 animals. Among them : 3 Wildebeests 10 monkeys 2 Emus 10 Kangaroos 7 Coatis 3 Porcupines 20 Penguins and a lot of other animals.
Article about the 18 African penguins from Bristol : Bristol penguins donated to zoo in Georgia devastated by flooding
