Two hippos per square meter

Dinara, the brown she-bear that gave birth to several generations of bear-cubs, died in July 2006 at the Kyiv Zoo. She had been transferred to Animal Island, where there were other animals, young and strong. Dinara was frightened and started to hit her head against a concrete wall. The bear was so traumatized that it had to be put down by lethal injection.

A red fox died of post-traumatic shock in November 2006. It was ripped to pieces by a huge dog that entered its cage. To this day no one knows who let the dog in.

In another incident, a zoo employee was shooting rubber bullets at Chudo the she-bear, a tiger named Ivan, and Dasha the lioness. This made the animals nervous and they attacked the weaker Chudo. Veterinarians were barely able to save the life of the she-bear, a favorite with children.

At a recent press conference Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Ecological-Cultural Center, recounted these and other terrible stories of zoo life in the capital. The stories are borne out by statistical data: in 2006, 50 mammals, 12 birds, 65 reptiles, amphibians, and fishes died at the Kyiv Zoo. Only 3 animals out of 127 died of old age, pneumonia was the cause of death of 7 animals (stemming from bad conditions) and 10 animals suffered post-traumatic shock. Boreiko says that the culprits behind these tragic events have never been found.

“In 2008 the Kyiv Zoo will be 100 years old. Unfortunately, today this respected establishment has turned into a real concentration camp for animals,” Boreiko admitted. “Cages are too narrow. There is often no corner where animals can hide from the sun. It stinks so much in the elephant cages that you can hardly stand it for three minutes. Playgrounds, battues, and eating places are located near the cages. All this makes the animals nervous, causes them stress, and makes them sick.”

“It looks as if the local authorities have forgotten that the zoo is part of our capital’s image, and that it was established with public funds. However, if things continue as they are, it is not inconceivable that the animals will be moved somewhere else, probably to Vyshhorod, and new skyscrapers will be built in its place.”

There is a similar situation in the Botanical Gardens. “In my opinion, the municipal authorities have opted for a policy of destroying the environment,” says Tetiana Timochko, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Ecological League, who also took part in the press conference. “What can we boast about to foreigners on the 100th anniversary of the zoo? Exhausted animals in narrow cages? That is why we have to increase funding for the zoo, close down the attractions, and raise the salaries of zoo employees, which range between 400 and 500 hryvnias.”

In addition to the municipal authorities, ecologists also suggest that the Cabinet of Ministers become involved in the preparations for the upcoming anniversary. They are convinced that this question is of state importance.

Despite everything, Fedir Romash, who was appointed director of the Kyiv Zoo a few months ago, is more enthusiastic. He said that the zoo’s financing has been increased this year. The number of on-site shops has decreased. Sixteen new installations (open-air cages, closed cages, and administrative rooms) are being built, but nobody knows when the construction will end. There are plans to repair the elephant cages, where a rhino, an elephant, and a hippo now live. Broaching the topic of the zoo’s anniversary celebrations, Romash said that the government has not offered additional money for this purpose, but he has not made a request yet.

“The main directions of the zoo’s activity are forming a collection of rare, exotic, and local fauna species, preserving their gene pool, studying the wild flora and fauna, and developing the principles of breeding animals in captivity.” That is a quotation from an ecological encyclopedia. One hopes that the Kyiv Zoo will not turn into a sort of appendage to entertainment establishments, but will remain, as it should be, a corner of wild nature in the big city.