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Kherson Zoo - Dnieper River Island
This is an ex-privately owned zoo where the animals are living in horrendous inhumane conditions. There are 5 Brown bears living in a combined area of 42 sq/m. There is no other word to describe it, “A prison” made completely of steel and metal bars which includes a steel floor. Temps drop to -25C in winter (excl wind chill factor) and I am sure you can imagine how cold these cages get. The bears are divided into 2 enclosures. The adult male, 24 years plus has lived in his 3m x 6m steel cage since before the fall of the Soviet Union. The 2 adult females and their cubs share an enclosure of 4m x 6m. They will soon outgrow the area. We also have a family of 8 wolves that share to areas of 2.5m x 2.5m. These are just some of the 200 animals at this zoo. None of these animals have ever set foot on natural ground.
Please check "KHERSON ZOO" page for updated pics and info.
Nikolaev Zoo - Zefirka the Polar Bear
This is the Zoo's latest baby, Zefirka (which means Marshmallow). She was born in the Moscow Zoo and is 2 ½ years old and was donated to Nikolaev by the Moscow zoo. With all the political tension between Ukraine and Russia, Nikolaev Zoo was given an ultimatum to collect her before the 1 April 2014 or they could not guarantee what would happen to her. Here are a few photo's of her enjoying her new home the day after coming out of quarantine.
Taigan Safari Park - Crimea
These photo's are of the delivery of meat from LAEO Ukraine for 50 lions and 12 other big cats. Taigan Safari Park in Crimea was hard hit when Russia annexed Crimea. All bank accounts were frozen and local business suffered. LAEO Ukraine came to the rescue just in time as the animals had already run out of meat. It has been 2 months since the annexation and still no support from Russia. I was asked why do I help these animals as they are now part of Russia and I replied the animals don't care about politics.

The gentleman in the photo's is Oleg Zubkov, director of the park. You can see he has a special bond with his lions.