Zoo wars: opinion of animal rights activists and officials

Intent's weekly "Accent" has returned to covering the confrontation around the Odesa Zoo, which it touched upon two months ago.

This time we asked for the opinion of animal rights activists and officials.

In January, the Odesa Zoo accused animal rights activists of fakes that blocked the work of the institution. As a result, the staff cannot properly care for the animals. The zoo administration officially reported systemic abuse of the right to appeal by certain groups of people who publicly position themselves as animal rights activists. According to the management, these people repeatedly submit complaints and applications to state and law enforcement agencies, spreading fake accusations that are not confirmed by any verification.

Volodymyr Samaychuk is one of the fiercest critics of the zoo's activities, so Accent asked him for his opinion.

"The Odesa Zoo has had 100 years of problems. The main one is the territory. It is unsuitable for a modern zoo - it is impossible to build it on the same territory as the existing one, even with the collection that the zoo plans to collect. They have been talking about moving it for many years, and there was a project to move it to Peremohy Park, which even had its own water source. But it didn't work out because of World War II. So the zoo was stuck near Privoz, and the problem was not solved during the Soviet Union. There were talks of moving the zoo in the early 2000s, but no one found the territory," the activist said.

Animal rights activist Yana Titarenko believes that zoos should cease to exist altogether, and the current situation with the zoo is not the fault of the management.

"The zoo has a double chain of command, and the zoo management has neither the authority nor the money to change the territory or expand the territory. Since the beginning of the invasion, the zoo has been provided with funds only for salaries and animal feeding," explained Yana Titarenko.

The court arrested the buildings of the Odesa Zoological Park on suspicion of misappropriation of local budget funds. It is about possible embezzlement during the overhaul of the heating system.

Last year, in November, the Prymorskyi District Prosecutor's Office opened criminal proceedings against the director of the Odesa Zoo , Ihor Bilyakov, who was accused of animal cruelty. This was done following a statement by the NGO UAnimals. At that time, the zoo's lawyers were preparing a lawsuit about the damage caused to the municipal institution by the attacks of animal activists.

Кирило Бойко