Donetsk, Mar 21 — DAN. Mariupol Zoo will welcome two camels from Kalmykia in April, Zoo Director Savely Vashura told the Donetsk News Agency on Tuesday.

“We’re going to Kalmykia later this month to collect the camels, ” Vashura said. “We’ve made all arrangements; we only have to collect them. We’re taking a boy and girl; they will be delivered in April.”

The Zoo had five camels before the fighting broke out in the city; all of them were killed in shell explosions on the premises, he added.

“We’re gradually recouping our losses, ” Vashura said.

Mariupol Zoo was started as a private organization in Sartana in 2009 and initially featured a collection of birds.  In 2016, it moved to Mariupol due to intense hostilities. The Zoo sprawled on an area of 3.5 hectares. It had leopards, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, dogs, foxes, silver foxes, donkeys, camels, deer and does, peacocks, cranes, storks, ostriches, quails, pelicans, squirrels and river rats.

Animal enclosures were damaged by shelling in the spring of 2022. Many animals were killed including a cheetah, five camels, three llamas, five ostriches and five monkeys.*jk