This winter, for the first time in the history of the Crimean safari park “Taigan”, a dozen lions were left here to winter on the territory of the so-called “savannah” (a plot of several hectares where lions live in semi-free conditions), the correspondent reports Crimea.Realities.

The owner of the safari park “Tiger” Oleg Zubkov explains his decision with an atypically warm winter. But as the Crimean zookeeper told, such an experiment is dangerous for the health of lions.

“Lions can indeed tolerate even sub-zero temperatures without much harm to health, but provided that at night they can hide in a warm and dry place so that the body can recover. Therefore, all the past years, Zubkov closed the lions in winter enclosures, where there is a yard for walking and there are dry rooms where they spend the night and hide in bad weather. Now there are a dozen lions in the “savannah”, which are constantly exposed to low temperatures and precipitation. Damp weather by lions is tolerated even worse than cool, but dry. We, the animal defenders, are sounding the alarm about this, but there is a feeling that no one decrees Zubkov in Crimea, he creates everything he wants in his park, and the authorities forgive him,” the zookeeper said on condition of anonymity.

According to her, Zubkov replies to the regulatory authorities that the door to the winter enclosure for lions remaining in the savannah is open, and they themselves can enter if they wish.

“But the problem is that after the ban on a photo shoot with lions in the “savannah”, Zubkov began to visit the “savannah” much less often and most of the lions ceased to be in contact. Therefore, the reason is not only in the warm winter, but also that it is difficult for Zubkov to get non-contact lions in winter quarters, and they themselves do not want to go there. In early December, he placed all contacts in winter cages. If frosts come to Crimea, the weakened immunity of lions left in the “savannah” can fail and the consequences for them can be even fatal,” the zookeeper noted.

On December 22 last year, the owner of the park “Taigan” Lviv and the Yalta Zoo “Kazka” Oleg Zubkov brought the largest batch of animals for his Crimean zoos from the occupied territories of mainland Ukraine.