Donetsk, Jun 7 — DAN. The State Forestry and Game Management Committee of the Donetsk People’s Republic has reported numerous cases of wild animals getting killed or maimed in UXO and booby trap explosions in DPR woodlands.

“Regrettably, we have many cases where wild animals were maimed or killed as they triggered booby traps, mines or unexploded ordnance, ” Committee Chairman Alexey Shebalkov told the Donetsk News Agency. “Their deaths saved our forest wardens who could have found themselves in their place.”

There were cases of wild animals being killed by Ukrainian artillery fire, he added.

Earlier, Shebalkov said that the fighting in Donbass was forcing wildlife to leave their habitat and migrate closer to human settlements.*jk