ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) — Police say eight tigers and a lioness belonging to a Russian traveling circus have died during a 20-hour truck journey across Siberia.
Police in the Siberian region of Yakutia say the animals were dead when they arrived early Dec. 22 in the city of Yakutsk. An investigation is under way.
An employee of the private Mechta circus based in the southern city of Krasnodar says the Indian tigers and lioness suffocated because of poor ventilation on the heated truck. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The news portal Kursor.ru showed photographs of the dead tigers, one piled on top of another in a cage.
The animals were last seen alive in the city of Neryungri, 510 miles (820 kilometers) from Yakutsk.
