The story of the "stealing" of animals began immediately after the retreat of Russian troops from Kherson. On November 11, Russian propagandist Anna Dolgareva wrote on her Telegram channel that she had no good news about the retreat. “The only good news is that my friend managed to steal a raccoon from the Kherson Zoo,” Dolgareva said.
Shortly thereafter, the owner of the Taigan lion park in Crimea, Oleg Zubkov, posted a video on YouTube showing him and his assistants pulling a raccoon by the tail. The animal, along with a llama, a donkey and others, was loaded into cars to be taken to the peninsula. After publications about the existence of such a video, many began to demand that Zubkov return the stolen raccoon to the territory controlled by Ukraine.
However, Zubkov himself believes that it was not a theft, but an evacuation. And not one raccoon, but seven. In a conversation with The Insider, he said that the animals were not taken out of a private zoo, but from a "utility enterprise", and with the permission of the zoo's management. “The transfer act was signed by the deputy director, chief engineer, raccoon specialist,” says Zubkov. The export permit was also given by the “local authorities”. According to him, this is a post-Soviet enterprise with modest conditions. The animals arrived well in Crimea, and after their arrival, the attendance of the zoo increased greatly. Raccoons are now actively breeding.
At the same time, the head of Taigan does not know Dolgareva.
“Today I saw this girl for the first time on Channel One. My phone crashed, saying, “bring back the raccoon, parasite, you sneaky bitch, we know where you live.” This story amuses me. Initially, the export of animals took place precisely as an evacuation against the background of instability in the Kherson zoo corner, from which the animals were transported. I did not pursue anything other than humanitarian purposes, but for a zoological purpose these animals are of no value, because I have more than seventy raccoons of my own. I have a whole street of raccoons in huge enclosures there. Yes, we love them very much, and they are interesting, but for a zoo in which the main thing is big cats, seventy raccoons is too many.”
Animals ready to return
The head of the Taigan zoo is ready to return animals to Ukraine according to the official procedure for their transfer from one state to another. By law, 30 days of quarantine must pass.
“After quarantine, if I have an appeal from the Kherson authorities with a request to return them, then I will go and do it. Better, hurry up because of the quarantine. There is a legal entity – the Yalta Zoo "Skazka", which has both an address and Internet resources, e-mail, and so on. I think the Russian authorities will not mind. I will officially apply and I don’t think that there will be any obstacles, because these animals are of no value either for me or for Russia. If they let me in and there is a package of documents, then what’s the problem?”
Zubkov partially confirmed the information of various Telegram channels that they want to exchange the raccoon for prisoners of war. According to him, he was approached with such a proposal, but at the level of Internet correspondence. There were no real appeals from the authorities.
Who is Oleg Zubkov
The head of Taigan and the Yalta Zoo Skazka, Oleg Zubkov, is a fairly well-known person in Crimea. Mostly constant conflicts with the so-called authorities of the peninsula. Numerous cases were opened against Zubkov, including criminal ones. One of them concerned deforestation for the construction of a road to the zoo. Zubkov has repeatedly stated that Natalya Poklonskaya announced the hunt for him and his zoo – at that time she held the position of prosecutor of the Crimea. She also blamed him for the death of two tiger cubs. Zubkov denied the charges. According to him, they died because during the disconnection of the Crimea from electricity, the zoo was not given a generator after the backup failed. The one given by the Ministry of Emergency Situations was taken away six days later, says the owner of the Taigan.
Now he is accused under the article on “providing a service that does not meet the requirements of life and health safety”: when visiting Taigan, a resident of the Krasnodar Territory with a one-year-old child in her arms came close to the enclosure with the Amur tiger, and the animal caused damage to the minor’s left arm, which led to amputation one of the fingers.
In 2014, Zubkov supported the annexation of Crimea. In recent years, in many interviews, he says that he greatly regrets this.
There is another raccoon
In the meantime, a video with a raccoon sitting on the shoulder of a Russian paratrooper is actively circulating in the Russian propaganda media. It is reported that he was also taken from the Kherson zoo, but not by Zubkov, but by the Russian military. A separate Telegram channel is also dedicated to the raccoon, which is run on behalf of the animal. It is reported that he now lives in the trenches with the military. What kind of raccoon it is and where it really comes from is unknown, there are several zoos in Kherson, including the contact “Enotia Country”.
