BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A Chinese zoo lost at least seven tigers due to starvation, sickness or fight wounds in the last four years, state media said on Wednesday, after two dead tiger cubs were found in a refrigerator in the ticket office.

The discovery of the cubs at the private zoo, near Yichang at the foot of the Three Gorges dam in Hubei Province at the weekend, came after a rare Siberian tiger was found beheaded and skinned last week prompting an investigation, Xinhua said.

The zoo was ordered to suspend operations and "shape up its management," the news agency reported.

The flood of visitors to the zoo when it opened in October 2002 had slowed to a trickle by 2003, leaving it financially strapped to care for 15 tigers, five bears, six African lions, two wolves, 60 monkeys and a collection of birds.

China's private and provincial zoos are often badly run and short on cash. Meanwhile, tiger parts are sought after for expensive traditional medicines. (Reporting by Lucy Hornby, editing by Ken Wills and Sanjeev Miglani)

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