Where do caring parents most want to take their children on holidays and weekends? To the theater, cinema, or zoo. That’s right, to the zoo! And how does the Kyiv Zoo now earn its living, what innovations does it have, and what good news is there for visitors?
The Kyiv Zoological Garden was founded by the initiative of Kyiv Society of Nature Lovers, by its secretary Hennady Hudzynsky, a Pole by origin. Incidentally, the zoo was situated primarily on the territory of the present Botanical Garden, next to Shevchenko University. Professors of Biology Department of the university gave much attention to it at that time. Compared with the modern one it was, of course, a mini- zoo, since today Kyiv Zoo occupies around 40 hectares in Kyiv’s city center. Animals were maintained on charity contributions, there were no exotic ones among them. During the war the zoo was ruined: a German garrison was stationed there. After Kyiv’s liberation only few old buildings remained: the bear, lion, and elephant houses. Many animals were evacuated to K Ъ nigsberg with some killed in bombardment. Only after the war the zoo began to take on its modern appearance. Some animals were returned, though not many, for the documents were lost on many of them.
“Today there are about 350 types of animals in the zoo”, says Liubov KOROTKA, manager of science and education department of the Kyiv Zoo. “A good collection of birds has been created, and we are planning to pair them off. Two years ago a male gorilla and cow elephant arrived. Accession of the collection and purchasing new species is rather expensive; sometimes transportation costs more than animal itself. In addition, animals go through a long period of adaptation. Every country has its own list of animals permitted for export and import at certain seasons, which is connected with veterinarian regulations or epizootics. For example, we wanted to buy a giraffe in South Africa, but they have a quarantine for three years. Undoubtedly, it is worth waiting to obtain good, high-grade species. We also have to consider the animals’ age. For example, elephants can live for seventy years, giraffes up to forty. Incidentally, our elephant is 31 year old, so he is rather young. The conditions of animal houses and aviaries, nutrition, and medical service are keystones for any zoo.
“Animals can feel people who take care of them; they react even to the smell of their clothes. People devoted to their job work here. Zookeepers have to give the elephant 150 kilograms of feed, clean up after him, and do all this manually. And their wages are quite low: 130 to 170 hryvnias. There are types of animals which have only a few dozen members remaining in the wild, and here in Kyiv Zoo we had preserved their representatives. Among them are great apes and white-claw bears, which are registered in The Red Book. This year we have celebrated the birth of tiger cubs.
“Along with raising endangered species, the zoo conducts scientific and educational work. It is important that people not only come and see the animals but also learn something new about them. Recently we began reconstruction of the Kyiv Zoo. In seven years we will observe our centennial. The zoo has practically no sponsors and does not pay its way (maintaining elephants’ couple alone takes around $50,000), so all the expenses will come to the state. The Kyiv City Council subsidized building a vivarium for diurnal flesh-birds, griffons and vultures, and an ostrich house. A Jurassic Park of sculptures was also recently opened.”
