Romania\u2019s National Environmental Guard announced that it closed an unauthorized wildlife facility in D\u00e2mbovi\u021ba County and issued fines totaling RON 220,000. The authority also filed a criminal complaint against the International Wildlife Foundation (IWF) after inspectors allegedly found animals kept in unsanitary and inadequate conditions, sometimes without food or water.<\/p>\n
The facility operated as a so-called wildlife rehabilitation center but conducted activities specific to a zoo without an environmental permit, the Environmental Guard said.<\/p>\n
Inspections carried out in July and September 2025 found four lions, a male tiger cub, and two brown bears for which the foundation could not provide documents proving their origin or the necessary CITES certificates.<\/p>\n
Inspectors also reported that a male lion was kept without the minimum conditions required by law, while two tiger cubs were allowed to roam freely. A female baboon was allegedly displayed to visitors while restrained on a leash and lacked adequate space, food, and water.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we permanently closed an improvised center that kept wild animals in miserable and completely noncompliant conditions,\u201d said Andrei Corlan, commissioner general of the National Environmental Guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe removed a danger to the animals, which were kept in spaces that failed to meet minimum requirements and were often even without water and food, as well as a danger to people who happened to visit this completely illegal site,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The authority said IWF failed to comply with measures imposed after the July inspection by an August 13, 2025, deadline. It allegedly did not provide documents concerning the animals\u2019 origin, the agreement governing use of the land, an emergency plan, or notification that the required measures had been implemented.<\/p>\n
During the September inspection, officials found the body of one tiger cub concealed in a refrigerated container, according to the Environmental Guard. The second cub had allegedly been moved to a clinic without the authorities being notified, despite an order prohibiting the transfer of animals.<\/p>\n
The fines included RON 60,000 for lacking the required permits, RON 60,000 for failing to provide appropriate living conditions, and RON 100,000 for missing the deadline to implement measures ordered by inspectors.<\/p>\n
The Environmental Guard prohibited the collection from reopening to the public without an environmental permit and permanently banned the transfer or breeding of its animals.<\/p>\n
The criminal complaint concerns suspected possession, transportation, or sale of specimens allegedly taken illegally from the wild.<\/p>\n\n
The animals were assessed and microchipped by Romania\u2019s veterinary authority, the Environmental Guard also said. Four lions and two bears were tranquilized with assistance from the Visul Luanei Foundation, while the two bears were transferred to the Z\u0103rne\u0219ti sanctuary by the Millions of Friends Association.<\/p>\n
irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n
(Photo source: screenshot from Garda de Mediu’s video on Facebook)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania\u2019s National Environmental Guard announced that it closed an unauthorized wildlife facility in D\u00e2mbovi\u021ba County and issued fines totaling RON 220,000. The authority also filed a criminal complaint against the International Wildlife Foundation (IWF) after inspectors allegedly found animals kept in unsanitary and inadequate conditions, sometimes without food or water. The facility operated as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}