The Colón Zoo, located in Matanzas, has been left completely empty following the death of all its animals, according to a report published on Facebook by activist Evelin Sara Cruz Álvarez, who has been documenting the collapse of this state facility for months.
According to Cruz Álvarez, the two lions living in the enclosure died after fighting each other because no one separated them in time, despite the fact that the situation had been publicly reported eight months earlier.
The crocodile, which had managed to survive abandonment and a lack of water, met an even more brutal fate: it was stolen and consumed by unidentified individuals.
The zoo monkey was transferred to another facility as a temporary measure, but it also died at that new location. "It doesn't matter where they take it, as all the zoos in this country are the same disguised pigsty," wrote the activist.
Cruz Álvarez emphasizes that these complaints are not new. In December 2025, he had already warned about the conditions of the place, describing the cages as "cells of slow torture" and the facility as "a cemetery in life."
At that time, he filed a formal complaint with the Municipal Ministry of Agriculture, which replied that it did not have the authority to demand changes.
Months later, in August 2026, Daylin Cardona from the Huellas de Amor Project revealed that her organization had been sending photographs to the Ministry of Agriculture in Matanzas for six months without receiving an effective response. The only official action taken was the formal closure of the facility, but the animals remained inside without care.
The activist Adriana Piña Herrera, who documented the condition of the zoo for eight months, described that decision as "a band-aid, a signature, a 'that's it.' But the animals didn't understand papers. They understood hunger and cages."
On September 20, a video by Pedro Llanes showed the current state of the zoo: empty enclosures overgrown with grass, piled-up trash, and crumbling walls.
The case in Colón is not an isolated incident. In August 2026, a lion killed another at the Las Tunas zoo after more than 13 days without receiving meat-based food.
The zoo in Cárdenas, also in Matanzas, is now a field of rubble with land divided for housing.
The National Zoo closed in September due to lack of light and water and, after reopening, is rationing food for nearly 1,000 animals relying on private donations.
Cuba has had Animal Welfare Decree-Law No. 31 since 2021, but activists point out that its implementation in state facilities has been virtually nonexistent.
"How many more zoos have to become cemeteries? How many more animals have to die for someone to take action?" Cruz Álvarez questioned in his post, with no authority responding so far.
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