- Movies seem to point out the proprietor of a Crimea-based zoo taking a number of animals from a distinct zoo.
- The proprietor of the Crimea zoo claims it was all achieved as a part of a “humanitarian mission.”
- However Ukraine accused him of theft, with the protection minister tweeting, “Steal a raccoon and die.”
Movies shared on social media seem to point out a Russian-Ukrainian businessman taking animals from a zoo in Kherson as Russian troops withdrew from the Ukrainian metropolis final week.
On Sunday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of inside affairs, tweeted a video of a llama being loaded onto a automobile by males in fatigues. The video additionally reveals the businessman, recognized as Oleg Zubkov, grabbing a raccoon by its tail and placing it in a cage.
—Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 13, 2022
Zubkov, who calls himself “Lion Man,” runs a non-public zoo referred to as Taigan Lion Park in Russian-occupied Crimea. He and his assistants made off with seven raccoons, two feminine wolves, peacocks, a llama, and a donkey from Kherson, per The Washington Submit.
Zubkov posted the movies on YouTube, however the clips have been taken down on Sunday, based on The Submit. Insider was unable to confirm the place or when the movies have been filmed, or if the opposite males dealing with the animals have been Russian.
Zubkov mentioned Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea organized for him to journey to Kherson to take the animals, per The Submit.
A number of different movies posted on a separate YouTube channel, run by Taigan Lion Park, present the animals arriving on the non-public zoo as Russian media interviews Zubkov.
“For us, it is a humanitarian mission. These animals would not have any zoological worth for us. We’ve our personal wolves. We’ve 75 raccoons,” Zubkov mentioned in considered one of these movies, based on a translation by The Submit.
Zubkov mentioned he would return the animals to Kherson safely every time authorities allow him to, per Radio Free Europe’s Krym.Realii division, which studies on information in Crimea.
Ukraine’s Protection Ministry, nevertheless, accused Zubkov of theft. It tweeted the clip of Zubkov holding the raccoon, with the caption: “Steal a raccoon and die.”
—Protection of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 13, 2022
Zubkov didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.
Russian troops have repeatedly been accused by Ukraine of looting gadgets from jewellery and vehicles to washing machines and youngsters’s toys.
In a single case, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Kherson area claimed that Moscow had seized the stays of Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, the lover of Catherine the Nice, from a crypt in Ukraine.
