Liège airport: three bears die in a plane grounded by the cold

Three bears died in a plane grounded by the cold at Liège airport. The Minister of Animal Welfare is considering sanctions if fault is established.

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Published on 01/30/2023 at 09:15Reading time: 2 mins

Lhe Walloon Minister of Animal Welfare Céline Tellier learned “with amazement” of the death, on the weekend of January 21, of three bears in a plane grounded by the cold, at Liège airport. She is considering sanctions if faults were to be established, she said on Bel-RTL on Monday.

“We will have to be clear, and if sanctions have to be taken, they will be taken,” said Ms. Tellier on private radio.

The daily newspapers of
Sudinfo
revealed on Monday the death of the three “lazy” bears, in a plane belonging to a Qatari company which was transporting nine of them and was stranded at Liège airport, paralyzed that weekend by snow and ice. The plantigrades would have died of cold in this plane in transit between Peru and Qatar, which could not unload the animals between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.

Sloth bears, also known as “lippus”, are regularly captured to be trained as dancing bears. Their species is classified as “vulnerable”. There are only 7,000 to 10,000 left in the world, according to
Sudinfo
.

The airport has launched an investigation, which Minister Tellier (Ecolo) will examine.

Last October, the Walloon government adopted a draft decree relating to the protection of animals during their transport, in application of a European regulation and the Walloon Animal Welfare Code.