Tbilisi Zoo clarifies animals safe after video showing zebra chasing, biting goat [VIDEO]

Tbilisi Zoo has clarified its animals are properly safeguarded after a video that showed a goat chased and bitten by a zebra was posted by a visitor on social media.

Posted in a Facebook group for consumers discussing dissatisfaction with experience at various businesses and venues, the 46-second video showed the two animals in space for zebras at the zoo facility in the downtown.

The footage shows a zebra chasing a goat that had entered its space through a gap in the fencing between spaces for the two animals, lifting the smaller animal with its legs and continuously biting it, before the goat escapes back through the fence.

See the video filmed by a visitor to the zoo that sparked the complaint:

The visitor filming the incident is audibly distraught and calling for supervising staff of the zoo while capturing the footage. In the post she shared in the group she said "numerous minors" had also been present and were upset while witnessing the scenes.

In response also posted on social media, public relations staff of the zoo said conflicts between animals at zoo venues worldwide were a "usual occurrence", and assured their followers goats and zebras enjoyed "peaceful coexistence" at the location.

The zoo released their own video showing what they said was a customary sight of frequent peaceful interaction between the animals:

Photographs and a video showing interaction between baby goats and zebras were also shared in the zoo's response to illustrate their frequent peaceful encounters at the spot. The post also admitted the incident in the visitor footage would have been "unpleasant to see" but added animals were under constant attention from staff.

The visitor video was captured at a temporary zoo location on Kostava Street in the downtown part of the city, which served as the full venue until the 2015 Tbilisi flood that prompted authorities to find a new location for an expanded zoo near Tbilisi Sea.

Some animals are still held at the former location while the new zoo - with more space for the species compared to the constrained areas of the old spot - is being completed.