Sloths froze to death in a plane at the Belgian airport in Liège. Due to the paralysis of transport that prevailed as a result of heavy snowfall, the animals got stuck in an unheated plane for more than 24 hours. The region’s authorities have announced an investigation into this tragic omission.
Heavy snow fell across Belgium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, causing traffic paralysis in places. One of the hardest-hit places was the city of Liège in the eastern part of the country, where there is an airport specializing in the transport of animals. It was there that three dead sloths were found in one of the planes.
24 hours in the cold
A Qatari Airlines flight carrying nine sloths landed in Liège on Saturday morning. Due to the difficult conditions at the airport, the vehicle got stuck on one of the taxiways and it was impossible to unload it.
The animals remained inside the unheated cargo hold until Sunday morning, when workers boarded the plane. Then it turned out that three sloths froze.
“These animals shouldn’t be traveling in these conditions,” one eyewitness told SudInfo.
According to local media, the plane flew to Belgium from Peru and then was supposed to take the animals to Qatar. Ultimately, the sloths were to go to Indonesia. The health status of the remaining animals is unknown.
Two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) – one of the species of sloths found in Peru (illustration photo)Adobe Stock
The culprits are being sought
The SudInfo website reports that an investigation will be launched at Liège airport to determine who is responsible for the deaths of the animals. The Walloon Minister for Animal Welfare, Céline Tellier, also got involved.
“If penalties have to be applied, they will be applied,” she told French-language radio station Bel-RTL.
Initially, local media reported that bears of the species lazy wrasse were locked in the plane (Melursus ursinus). However, it turned out that it was a translation error – sloths are commonly referred to as “oso perezoso”, which in Spanish means lazy bear. The common English name for the sloth bear has the same meaning, but in Spanish this species is more commonly called “oso bezudo”, meaning “thick-lipped bear”.
Main photo source: Adobe Stock