A ZOO in Nigeria has been blasted for appearing to mistreat its animals after a picture was posted online of a malnourished camel.

The picture, taken at the National Children's Park and Zoo in the capital Abuja, shows what looks like a weak and frail camel eating some grass with a goat nearby.

Tunde Sawyerr visited the zoo with his three-year-old daughter but while she can usually recognise camels wondered what the animal was.

He uploaded the picture to his Twitter page with the caption: “Saw this former camel at the Abuja Zoo.”

It has since been retweeted around 1,600 times.

Sawyerr told CNN: “If there was any animal that stood out in terms of it being malnourished, and it not being taken care of, it was the camel.”

However the zoo has denied it mistreats its animals.

The zoo's deputy director of wildlife Aminu Muhammed said the camel had a skin condition which it was trying to treat.

He said the heavy rains had also affected the animal’s health and added the camel in question was an albino.

But an expert on animal rescue contacted by the US broadcaster doubted the zoo’s explanation.

Environmental and botanical scientist Jon Justin Williamson, who is also the lead investigative officer at the International Animal Rescue Foundation Africa, said: “This is a dromedary, a juvenile Arabian camel, which I can see is very sick and very malnourished.”

He added: “There's little suitable food on the ground for the animal to even graze on, which unfortunately will eventually lead to its slow and painful death.”