Police shoot leopard that attacked a worker in Odesa zoo

Police launched an investigation into the leopard attack on an employee of the Odesa zoo on Saturday morning.

This was reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa Oblast.

Zoo director Ihor Belyakov reported to the police around 10:00 a.m. that one of the employees had gone to clean the enclosure and was attacked by a leopard.

When the police arrived, they found another employee in the leopard's enclosure who was trying to help the wounded man and was trapped. To save lives, the police had to use their weapons and neutralize the animal.

The wounded man was taken to the hospital. The police are establishing all the circumstances of the incident. It will be legally classified later.

This year, 32 criminal cases of animal cruelty have been brought to court. This is 18% of the total number of open proceedings. In the previous two years, this figure was higher and amounted to about 24%.

Currently, only one in five cases goes to trial, while in 2022-2023, one in four cases was considered.

The court registry has already included cases where accusers of animal cruelty have received actual prison sentences. For example, in the Dnipro region, a man stabbed an alabai with a machete during a robbery and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

However, most sentences are still suspended. For example, in Odesa, a man stabbed a stray dog twice in the neck, causing its death, and received a 5-year suspended sentence. The issue of animal cruelty is regulated by Article 299 of the Criminal Code. It states that cruelty includes physical abuse of animals and setting them against each other. Criminals can be punished with a fine or imprisonment for a term of 1 to 8 years.

Кирило Бойко