New private zoo helps Ukrainians forget conflict

Demydiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - A young girl in a bright pink dress tiptoes around the edge of a cage containing a white Bengal tiger, as couples stroll by with pushchairs.

It might be a scene from an average family day out anywhere. But in Ukraine a giant new private zoo near Kiev is creating a buzz -- and helping people forget the conflict wracking their country. "We needed this place," Yevgen, the little girl's father, told AFP. "Communication with animals calms you and distracts you from bad news. Life goes on no matter what." Inside the zoo, there's little to remind you of the bloody separatist war rumbling on in the east of the country. A long queue of mostly well-to-do parents waits at the ticket office, the parking lot is full of expensive cars and children run around impatiently. Situated on the outskirts of the small, run-down village of Demydiv, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Ukraine's capital, the 16-hectare (39-acre) zoo houses exotic animals from South American rodents to Southeast Asian apes. [caption id="attachment_77098" align="alignright" width="512"] New private zoo helps Ukrainians forget conflict.[/caption] Built with money from little-known Ukrainian businessman Mykhailo Pinchuk, it has an individual warden to take care of each animal and a petting area where children can stroke goats, pigs and a donkey. - Foreign zoos - But while the park may be an oasis of calm in a country wracked by crisis, the impact of the fighting far to the east has still been felt here. Due to the conflict the zoo is still waiting for giraffes and elephants that were meant to arrive before it opened. "European zoos are scared about sending their animals to problematic countries," zoo director Andriy Levchyk complained. "But we are trying to convince foreign partners to trust us and prove to them that our zoo is absolutely safe and the conditions for animals are satisfactory." The absence of some of the most popular animals has left some visitors to the zoo a little upset. "This is not enough," said one mother, Natalya, whose nine-year old son left the zoo disappointed. "We've been abroad, we visited European zoos. It takes you a whole day to see everything, and here we spent just few hours." It took a year of engineering and two years of construction to finally open this zoo, which is one of the largest private zoos in Ukraine. The project started during the presidency of Viktor Yanoukovych when nothing foretold either revolution or, especially, war. But the deadly protests that ended in February 2014 with Yanukovych's ouster changed the course of history. The annexation of Crimea and the eastern unrest that followed have turned part of the country into a war-zone and unleashed an economic crisis. Zoo director Andriy Levchyk said the investor behind the zoo prefers to keep a low profile, and the amount that was spent on the construction and is needed for the further maintenance of animals is also undisclosed. And while the zoo's animals seem oblivious to the turmoil around them, so too the visitors manage to switch off for a while. "I think that war and entertainment have nothing to do with each other," said zoo-goer Yevgen. "Why do we even mention them together?"