Kyiv zoo beasts face starvation as desperate staff hunt yoghurt for Gorilla
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Ukraine’s prized zoo animals face starving to death amid Mad Vlad’s cowardly shelling.
Defiant carers who have been living full-time with the traumatised beasts at Kyiv zoo are now running dangerously low on feed for its 4,000 beasts from 200 species.
They have also been burning through medicine and anti-depressants to try and keep the animals calm as nearby bombs rattle their enclosures.
The zoo’s desperate director Kyrylo Trantin said: “Before the war we stockpiled two weeks’ worth of food for the animals.
“We are now in the second week of war and today we went to our storehouse and got out three tonnes of food. That will last another week.
“After that we will see.
I already have people running around the city looking for fresh foodstuffs in supermarkets. Sometimes they are paying for it with their own money.
“We need to source fruit and vegetables and we have begun to make our own yoghurt for our gorilla, Tony.
“The carnivores are getting more chicken than they would receive in peacetime. Normally it would be beef. Did you know that giraffes like onions?”
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A basement due to be transformed into an aquarium is being used as a bomb-shelter for the zoo’s live-in staff and their families.
Around 50 workers, including vets, engineers and keepers, plus 30 family members are now 24/7 residents at the zoo.
Mr Trantin said: “My mother, who is elderly, my dog and my cat have all moved into my office here.
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“Happy animals mean a good zoo and a happy city.”
Among the anxiety-addled beasts is Juto the giraffe.
He has gone off his beloved red apples after shock waves from an artillery bombardment a few miles away shook the home he shares with fellow giraffe, Jumbo.
The zoo’s Asian lions Hercules, Christina, Dana and Lilia have also been reduced from majestic beasts to twitching bags of nerves by the sounds of war.
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Horace the 17-year-old Asian elephant can no longer be allowed into his outdoor enclosure as he gets so stressed by missile thuds.
Elephant specialist Mr Trantin added: “We have had to give him sedatives to help him cope.
“Members of my staff are also sleeping in a room adjacent to his to keep him company.”
There were talks to move traumatised Tony the western gorilla to Germany, but at 47 he’s too old to shift.
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Mr Trantin said about the zoo stalwart beloved by Kyivans: “The problem is that he likes to see new people every day but that is not possible now the zoo is closed to visitors.
“So now we have him watch a television for two hours every day so he can see human faces.
“It’s not the same, of course, but it’s the best we can do for him in the circumstances.
“He is a symbol of the city, and heroes do not run.”
- Russia Ukraine war
- Ukraine
- Russia
- Animals
- Vladimir Putin
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