The official Facebook page informs that Kharkiv Ecopark is opening the first location for visitors on June 1, 2023.
It will be easy to get to the park, as free buses will run. In addition, workers have already begun preparing the animals to return home.
“We are preparing a present for little Kharkiv citizens and their parents by 1 June. On Children’s Day, we will open the first location of Ecopark – Alpaca Valley. This is a relatively small territory, and it will be demined and completely safe for visiting,” the statement says.
Russian troops have been shelling the Kharkiv Ecopark since the beginning of the war. As a result, animals died, including deer, kangaroos, monkeys, bison, etc. Some of them escaped from the broken cages.
- In spring 2022, park workers who came to feed and care for the animals also died.
- The Russians stole vegetables intended for animal feed.
- Two orangutans and one chimpanzee have been killed. A couple of bison have been killed by shelling, and a ten-month-old one left without parents. About 6000 animals were evacuated from the park. A sixth volunteer was killed during the evacuation of African buffaloes.
- As a result, the founder Oleksandr Feldman declared that the Ecopark was destroyed. And all the animals that remained there would be put to sleep. After this statement, many organizations offered to help with the removal of the animals.
- This year, in January, the animals began to be returned.
- As of 29 March, more than 3,500 animals had been evacuated from the park.
Feldman Ecopark is a regional landscape park in the Derhachi district of Kharkiv Oblast, one of the objects of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine. The main component of the eco-park is a zoo with about 2,000 animals.
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