A fire at a zoo in western Germany in the first minutes of 2020 killed more than 30 animals, including apes, monkeys, bats and birds, authorities said. Police said the fire may have been caused by sky lanterns launched to celebrate the new year.
Several witnesses reported that they had seen the cylindrical paper lanterns with little fires inside flying in the night sky shortly after midnight Wednesday near the Krefeld zoo, Gerd Hoppmann, the city's head of criminal police told reporters.
Only two chimpanzees could be rescued from the flames by firefighters. They suffered burns but are in stable condition, zoo director Wolfgang Dressen said. "We have to seriously work through the mourning process," Dressen said. "This is an unfathomable tragedy."The zoo said that in addition to the two rescued chimpanzees, the Gorilla Garden near to the Ape House didn't go up in flames and that gorilla Kidogo and six other members of his family group are alive.
Germans usually welcome in the new year with fireworks at midnight and private persons are allowed to buy and launch fireworks. Sky lanterns, however, are both illegal and uncommon in Germany.
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