The Russians want to take out unique animals from the reserve “Askania-Nova” in the Kherson region

The Russians intend to loot the temporarily occupied nature reserve in Askania-Nova and take the unique red book animals outside the protected zone. Oleg Zubkov, the “director” of the private zoo in Yalta “Kazka”, already known to Khersonians, was the first to announce this.

It was this “nature lover” who stole a number of animals from the city zoo in Kherson. Among them is a raccoon, which the Russians are currently using for their propaganda purposes.

“No one forbade the exchange of animals. In “Ascania-Nova” there are amazing animals that live on other continents that are inaccessible to us today. And here they are in abundance. Therefore, if someone wants to create a family of bison, kulans or Przewalski’s horses, gazelles, mouflons, European lynx and other animals, it is not necessary to go to India. According to Gayals, for example, or according to wildebeest antelopes. “You can come to Askania-Nova,” Zubkov told the camera.

During this statement, the occupiers appointed next to him the “director” of the captured Biosphere Reserve, Dmitriy Meshcheryakov, who obediently nodded his head, agreeing with such statements of the marauder from Crimea.

Moreover, Zubkov and Meshcheryakov even signed a kind of “cooperation agreement” between the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve and the Yalta Zoo “Kazka”. According to it, there should probably be an “exchange” of animals.

Taking into account the fact that Oleg Zubkov is not the first time we have noticed him stealing animals, there is little faith in the exchange. This mistrust is reinforced by the fact that the so-called “new director” of “Ascania-Nova” has done absolutely nothing for the reserve itself – since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the state of affairs in the biosphere reserve is deplorable: employees are not allowed to work, huge areas have burned wobble, etc. Calculating damages is extremely difficult due to the physical impossibility of getting to the object.

However, let’s remember the fact that Zubkov stole animals from Kherson on the eve of the liberation of the city by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, the Russians’ preparation for the looting of “Ascania-Nova” may be a sign that the Russians are going to flee from there as well. Although the animals, who actually ended up being held hostage by non-humans, it is not easier from that.