“We are becoming experts at surviving without water and electricity”
The Kyiv Zoo is an object of the natural reserve fund of Ukraine of national importance. As reported on the company's website, there are 2,170 specimens of animals of about 300 species. The goals of the menagerie are not only entertaining, the zoo also conducts research work aimed at improving the conditions for animals, collecting data on biology, behavior, and rehabilitation of animals – necessary for the conservation of rare species in the wild and for the development of applied and fundamental science.
According to Cyril Trantin, the animals of the Kyiv Zoo have not been moved anywhere since February 24.
“Taught by the bitter experience of the first months of the war, we prepared for these problems – we bought generators and ordered wood-burning stoves. Further, all the buildings were insulated, even a small thermal imager was purchased to check the heat leakage from old buildings. There is a supply of firewood and a small supply of fuel, feed for a month and a half in advance. Ready for all the craziest things. In addition to direct hits – but there is no way to prepare for this.
All animals received additional rations since the beginning of September. They gain 10% of their weight in winter. We feed them well so that they enter the winter in the most comfortable form. Plus we have 200 animals that we rescued and adopted during this period.”
The blows of Russia on Kyiv were felt by the animals. According to Trantin, "there were broken windows" but no casualties. However, this still affects the state of the zoo’s pets: for example, as a result of shelling, pelicans crushed their eggs in the first month – from stress, and the female lemur abandoned the baby, he was fed by the zoo. Donations from Ukrainians and European zoos help to survive. In February-March, people closed a fairly large amount, due to which the zoo management was able to pay for gas, electricity, water and feed.
“When they throw a box at your main entrance, and there is a snake, is this an extreme case or not? And what to do with it? No, we understood what to do with it, and we saved everyone – parrots, turtles, and monkeys. When you have your own budget planned, and they still bring you 10% of the animals from your total living creatures, then you pull it with clenched teeth. If it were not for the help of ordinary people and European zoos, we would not have pulled out the situation.”
The biggest problem is the lack of heat, which is especially important for primates, Trantin says. Even lowering the air temperature to +10°C is deadly. Furnaces, which will soon arrive at the zoo, will help save them. There were also power outages. The animals did not want to eat in the dark, they did not want to move into the enclosures for cleaning.
“We bought street lights, and they have small solar panels, now these lights are installed indoors, so if there is no light, then there is an independent source of lighting. We bought 30 panels with a built-in battery, so if the light goes out, then there are panels with batteries for four hours. We are becoming experts at surviving without water and electricity. Our task is to ensure that this war does not concern our pets. People can hide in a bomb shelter, but you can’t explain to animals that some idiots are bombing the city and hitting water and gas.”
The mission to return the Kherson raccoons is still impossible
On November 17, news appeared on the zoo’s website that the local raccoon Senya “nearly choked on a Kherson watermelon when he heard the news about a “brother” stolen by orcs from the zoo corner of Kherson.”
We are talking about the sensational situation around the Kherson zoo corner, from where the owner of the Crimean lion park "Taigan" Oleg Zubkov took animals: raccoons, donkeys, llamas, peacocks and others. Zubkov himself told The Insider that he evacuated the animals in case of shelling and a possible strike on the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station – in the event of a dam break, the zoo would be flooded. He also stated that he was ready to return the exported animals to Ukraine at the request of Ukraine. Trantin noted that the Kyiv zoo is ready to take the animals to itself, but he does not intend to negotiate with Zubkov.
“We would love to lead a tank column, but they won’t let us push the raccoon back. If our ZSU take him back, we would gladly give him shelter. Do not forget that this Kherson corner is a restaurant corner, not a zoo corner. In such conditions, animals should not live at all. Animals must be treated with respect, so if the ZSU take them away, then I will teach them. Next year, we are still planning to open a large exhibition for the rescued raccoons that we adopted. Zubkov was dragging a raccoon by the tail – a complete moron. There is a grid for this. We basically do not cooperate with him, because for us he is an enemy and a traitor. We remember him back in 2014.”
How Ukraine lives without light and heat
According to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on November 15, Russia's largest-scale attack on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure took place. About 10 million people in the country were left without electricity, in total, more than 30 energy infrastructure facilities have already been damaged. Even a part of Moldova was left without electricity. The cost of missiles fired in Ukraine on November 15 could reach $900 million.
To save energy, Kyiv has already introduced a mode of hourly blackouts. The mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko admitted the possibility of evacuation of the population. According to him, a complete blackout is possible and the people of Kiev may have to leave the city. Rockets hit power plants, heat and power plants, transformer substations throughout Ukraine.
In some houses, “crisis kits” appeared in elevator cabins, writes the BBC Russian Service. Cardboard boxes may contain modest food items, a child's toy, drinking water, a pack of sedatives in case of an attack of claustrophobia, and an empty plastic bottle for bodily needs. Those who have a gas stove are the luckiest. Those who have an electric one boil water during the power supply and pour it into thermoses, many buy gas tourist burners.
During blackouts, many people lose their communications and the Internet – there are many towers on rooftops and depend on the power supply. Power banks and charging stations have already become scarce in electronics stores.
