Bears under the sight. In Safari Park, they want to euthanize animals due to ships

The owner of private Crimean zoos Oleg Zubkov is ready to kill three dozen bears from his collection. This will happen if the Taigan and Fairy Tale zoos are closed by court decision. Zubkov calls this measure for the forced: there will be nothing to feed animals. Local officials and zoo activists accuse the businessman of blackmail and abuse of animals.

The Lviv Park "Taigan", where Oleg Zubkov spends most of the time, is located in the foothills of the Crimea annexed by Russia, three kilometers from the small city of Belogorsk. This area is not spoiled by the attention of tourists. From the attractions, before the opening of the zoo, the city could boast of only a white rock - a monument of nature, which in the Soviet years served as a natural decoration for the filming of the western of the domestic spill.

From the city to the zoo you have to take a taxi.

- Zubkov is a normal man? - I ask the driver, the Crimean Tatar.

- An interesting person. But very complicated, ”the taxi driver gives out his resume after half a minute thought. - Do they love him in the city? Nope. Because he canceled the discount on the input tickets for the Belogorstsev. He quarreled with the authorities, so he canceled. And I did nothing for the city. Local does not work for him.

However, the true reason for the resentment against the owner of the Tagan seems to lie in another:

- All tourists pass by Belogorsk and immediately go to him. In the city there is no such that there are more tourists. If the zoo is closed, it will neither be cold from this.

On a weekday in mid -November, the zoo is completely empty. Rare cars in the parking lot, deserted alleys are buried in a thick white veil. From the speakers on the lampposts, songs about the "House of the Rising Sun" and "Windmansers of Your Consciousness" are carried. Lions, monkeys and ostriches carefully listen to them.

Merchants of souvenirs are missing. "You are my first!" - enthusiastically reports the salesman when I go to look at the assortment. Among the key rods, toys and other goods with a zoo theme, for some reason, a magnet with a portrait of Stalin hangs for some reason. “There are few people. What can you do: not a season,” the woman laments.

Very soon, however, visitors may not remain in the zoo at all. On December 3, the City Court in Belogorsk must make a decision on the suit of the State Committee of the Veterinary Medicine of Crimea on the closure of Oleg Zubkov’s zoos for multiple non -compliance with regulatory regulations.

Zubkov has been engaged in animals for almost a quarter of a century. In 1995, he built in Yalta a private zoo "Fairy Tale". The institution quickly gained popularity among the public (both local and visiting), but there was not enough space to accommodate new animals. Therefore, in 2006, the entrepreneur rented under Belogorsky an abandoned military unit and began the construction of the largest safari park in Europe. The park adopted the first visitors in 2012. Today in Tagan, 50 lions, 55 tigers and hundreds of other animals live. Most of the territory - about 20 hectares - occupies the fenced section of the steppe, imitating the savannah, where lions live almost in the wild.

Zubkovo projects are much different from state zoos. Visitors can independently feed animals, take pictures with Lionians and Tigers, and even "invite" them to their room in the hotel located right there. Sometimes the owner of the zoo himself performs a crown trick - fearlessly enters the aviary with lions in front of the amazed public. Predators climb to hug with the owner and behave like domestic cats. Lovers of acute sensations and sharp fangs can make a company to Zubkov and take a walk surrounded by a lion family. All this is very unnecessary for zoine protection.

In April 2017, at the Kerch ferry crossing, the Amur tiger was seized from passengers - this animal was listed in the Red Book. According to the Russian quarantine center "Veles", which made up the petition with a request to close the safari park, "in the light of the fact that trade in red-black animals is prohibited and requires special permits, the question arises whether Zubkov violates the law that especially protects red-blown animals."

In early September, during a photo shoot in Tagan, a three -month tigerok scratched the soldier of the Russian army. He complained to the veterinary service, after which the prosecutor’s office and other departments joined the case. As a result, "dozens of Crimean services" came to the zoo with checks that lasted a month. Employees of the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine found that the predator who damaged the defender of the Fatherland was not vaccinated.

Zubkov with the conclusions of veterinarians disagree:

- Without vaccinations, the park cannot exist. This is the fundamental rule, the basis of security.

He shows a copy of the act that the Tigerka named Amur made a rabies vaccination in time, as well as an appeal to the district veterinarian with a request to put the Amur on ten -day quarantine (both documents are at the disposal of Radio Liberty). The examination did not reveal any diseases in the tiger. Nevertheless, the supervisory service decided to finish Zubkov.

But this was not limited. During the inspection of Taigan, veterinarians noticed a short -lived piece of pork on the lion's territory. He was recognized as the corpse of the animal, that is, biological waste. The Vettsluzhba issued Zubkov to destroy the “waste”, but the inhabitants of Savannah, who, by that time, obviously managed to get hungry, perfectly coped with this task. For veterinarians, they made an act that nothing dangerous on the lion's land was found. In response, officials decided to fine the zoo for half a million rubles for failure to comply with a legal requirement.

Another penalty for the same amount went to Taigan for Home Violence. The employee of the State Committee of the Veterinary Medical Assistance of Oksana Tushina did not like that one of the inhabitants of the Savannah of the muzzle was not in the veterinary traveler. She demanded to find lions or lionesses who inflicted bodily injuries, and send them to quarantine.

- What, I have to enter the savannah and interview Lviv who do not speak articulate human speech, which of them bit this lion and bit at all? I call it insanity and delirium, ”Comments Zubkov.

Employees of the zoo could not reveal the crime and catch the attackers, for which they were punished with a fine.

- We normally treat all the checks. We are entrepreneurs, we have economic activities, so we are always open. But when these checks go by lawlessness ... You need to know the Crimean VetDAPARE: they do not need the audit to be safely. They need to dig up [grounds] on senile fines, ”says the owner of the Crimean zoos.

The owner of Taigan considered the claims unreasonable and tried to protest them in court. In response, the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine filed a lawsuit to close the zoo for 90 days for malicious non -compliance with the requirements. Then Zubkov went to the lion's aviary, where he recorded a video message that became extremely popular on the Internet:

- Closing means actually the death of the Zoo "Tale" and the Lviv Park "Taigan", because the parks exist exclusively on the entrance board ... - the entrepreneur said on the camera. - Unfortunately, I need to think about the survival of the parks. I decided that you need to get rid of part of the zoological collection. Please come to Taigan, there are 30 bears. If someone wants to take them to the shelter, the zoo, we will ship them for constant maintenance. If this does not happen, then in a month I will have to decide on the shooting of 30 extra bears. Whether it will be euthanasia or shooting hunting - we will decide with veterinarians and specialists who will help me. Unfortunately, the Russian authorities leave me no other choice. The same should be done by tigers, and on lions, and other animals. I can’t contain such a mass of animals, subjected to constant attacks, under constant fear, I can’t.

Internet publicity split into sympathetic and condemning Zubkov. The former demanded that the authorities leave the zoos at rest, the latter to bring the "flayer" accountable for cruelty to animals. Both of them organized the collection of signatures under the petitions of the President of Russia. The head of the State Committee for Veterinary Medicine Valery Ivanov called Zubkov’s statement “blackmail” and “pressure on the court”. The Taigan on Blood group intensified on social networks, where they collect evidence of a mocking attitude towards pets in Zubkovo parks. But their owner was supported by federal politicians . There were people who were ready to save the bears from death. True, Zubkov himself says that so far no one has contacted him specific offers.

He is sure that the closure of the parks is a matter of time, "because there is no limit to casuistry of Crimean officials." In recent months, the trials take almost all his free time from him, the owner of Taigan complains. Officials, according to him, deliberately scattered dozens of claims in different Crimean ships. The calculation on the fact that at least somewhere the judge will “not understand the claims” and force the businessman to comply with the orders of the veterinary service. So many acts, protocols and other, as Zubkov calls it, “fiction”, that on one of the days, the wife of the owner of the park, Oksana, had to sign for 3.5 hours signed for 3.5 hours at the post office in the post office.

We are talking with Zubkov on a rare day when no meetings are scheduled. He flogs a pack of sheets with a schedule of ships until the end of the year - they are planned about 60 pieces, up to five meetings per day: "Like a decent judge." At all hearings, the owner of Taigan is present by his own person. Explains that there are too many nuances in sanitary and veterinary legislation. Even the best lawyers cannot fully understand them, while he himself carefully studied the regulatory framework for 25 years.

In parallel with the proceedings due to the latest inspections in the courts, the consideration of old cases continues. In July last year, the tourist went with Zubkov for a walk with the lions. Those her society did not like. As a result - a visitor’s hand and a trial bitten in several places, stretched for almost a year and a half. In the end, the businessman was forbidden to provide a dangerous service, but he is fighting for the cancellation of the ban, saying that a walk with lions in terms of extremely differs from a parachute jump: the whole thing is who accompanies you.

Zubkov talks about lawsuits with Crimean officials in his office. A huge desktop is littered with verification documents. On the wall there is a ceremonial portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a plasma screen of giant sizes. The skin of a murdered bear is laid on the floor. He was shot in the dashing 90s, at the dawn of the existence of a "fairy tale". The circus bear for no reason grew up and gnawed a trainer with an assistant, after which he went straight to the auditorium during the performance. He was caught and handed over to Zubkov. He tried to re -educate the beast for a long time, but nothing came of it. The fate of the bear was a foregone conclusion.

- After that case, I have a gun with cartridges in my office. It is in such a case. I have a talent for communication with bears, lions, wolves and other predators. But if I exhaust the whole strength of natural talent and the skills of a trainer, I will have the last one to preserve the lives of visitors and employees. If the animal is free, and people will go there, I will have to choose whose life to sacrifice.

When asked whether he is really ready to kill his pets in case of closing zoos, Zubkov, as in a video message, replies that he is not left other choice. Without the sale of input tickets, the money will end very quickly, and animals eat a lot: 1 ton of meat and 3.5 tons of other feeds per day. Moreover, in the Crimea, it is impossible to get normal meat for animals: the vetets blocked many supplies channels, you have to carry from Adygea and Kalmykia.

Zubkov collected for 12 years. He bought it from mobile menageries, on traction sites - he was going to build a bear park in an abandoned Inkerman career near Sevastopol. But with the advent of Russia, these plans had to be abandoned: all projects were frozen for an indefinite period. The reluctance of the authorities to issue permits under new construction sites and the desire to close the current parks Zubkov simply explains: officials want a bribe, and he is not going to follow them:

- They show me a draft resolution on the suspension of the zoo and ask: "What are the proposals?" Translated from the bureaucracy, this means: "How much are you ready to pay for us to work this year in the summer season?" I have not seen such corruption, such extortion in life! And it could not be at Ukraine. I am ready to pay fines if I violated the law. But I will never bow to either Ivanov, or to Aksenov, or to Poklonskaya with a suitcase with money.

Another reason is ideological disagreements between Zubkov and Crimean authorities, the businessman believes:

- After the [regional and local] elections [September 9], our power began the next aggravation. This is done to hesitate the zoos. When such a stabbed, not a single project will never move. It is impossible to move something in this state.

The businessman has no visible political ambitions, but he is a noticeable figure in the Crimean media space. It annoys many. According to Zubkov, people from the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov came to him and asked to reduce the degree of rhetoric. In return, they promised to coordinate the allocation of land. But the entrepreneur did not go to the deal:

- I have the audacity to say and write what I think. To the best of their education, education and vocabulary. And if I said something, try bring me to justice. I still have enough gray matter in my head so as not to blurt out what can be regarded as a call or insulting some person. If I insulted someone, I am ready to answer in court, pay 5 thousand and repeat that you are a moron.

Obviously, the Belogorsk taxi driver had such a life position when he called Zubkov "a complex person."

It’s terribly sorry to part with the pets and even more so to send them to the next world. Now 46 bears live in two parks, of which only six are demonstrated by the public. And if the law does not allow the law to be killed, say, the Red Book Tigers, then he can dispose of the bears as you like, and state bodies confirm this. The animals belong to a person by right of ownership, like livestock, which can be launched under a knife.

In European zoos, the killing of animals is a common practice, Zubkov claims, citing a story with a giraffe Marius from Denmark, which was torn to pieces by lions in front of children. The law allows you to do this. At the end of the year, "extra" animals, which were not able to attach to other institutions, are subjected to euthanasia. This is considered more humane. Animals multiply in captivity, and if their numbers do not control, their number will grow.

The other day, in the "fairy tale" to feed, predators were launched by dwarf pigs, which had previously lived in the contact corner. The veterinary department forbade their free walking and sentenced to life imprisonment in a closed room. After that, Zubkov decided that this was not life, and preferred to use piglets "like live food, which should have lions and tigers in the diet."

- There is absolutely nothing criminal or terrible in this. We feed and rabbits, ducks, goats, and other agricultural animals, ”the owner of the safari park says calmly.

For the same reasons, if it comes to extreme measures, the bears will be more correct to shoot than to lull with the help of medicines, he continues his reasoning. Animals with gunshot wounds can be sent to the food of the lions, and if there are dangerous drugs in the body killed bears, you can’t do this.

- With the bears it will be as it will be. I have not yet made a final decision. But I do not refuse my words. If the zoo needs to optimize their collection, the bears will be the first to be exposed to euthanasia, ”Zubkov warns.

- And what will happen to the tigers and lions? - I am interested.

“They will be sold,” the businessman assures. - Lions and tigers are very in demand. The Yalta Zoo "Fairy Tale" and the Lviv Park "Taigan" are number one of these rare species of animals.

For the owner of the safari park, the sale of large cats is not the only source of income in the absence of visitors. Recently, Zubkov has a "calm and profitable" business in Portugal. It is associated with the construction sphere and the entertainment industry.

-Firstly, there is no stability and confidence in the future. Во-вторых, российское государство периодически грабит своих граждан, обнуляя их счета, разоряя банки, – объясняет "человек-лев" (как он сам себя называет) свое желание вывести средства за рубеж. – Заработанные мной деньги лежали на счетах и были предназначены для новых проектов в Крыму. Проекты строить не разрешили. А деньги – такая вещь, которая сегодня есть, а завтра нет. Естественно, деньги должны вкладываться в какой-то бизнес, в производство. Так и появилась Португалия.

Она может стать для Зубкова запасным аэродромом на случай, если его выживут из Крыма. Вероятность такого поворота событий возрастает с каждым днем, ведь история с якобы непривитым Амуром и "биологическими отходами" в саванне – далеко не первое столкновение бизнесмена с властями. В общей сложности за пять лет в аннексированном Крыму он посетил 550 судебных заседаний, связанных с претензиями государственных органов к его паркам.

Так, например, в 2017 году "Сказку" закрывали по решению налоговых органов: на входных билетах не хватало каких-то реквизитов. Двумя годами ранее тогдашний прокурор Крыма Наталья Поклонская на глазок диагностировала у обезьян туберкулез и заставила ветслужбу палить по зверям снотворным, чтобы насильно их привить. Во время блэкаута 2015 года Зубков по собственной инициативе закрыл парки в знак протеста против действий властей. Чиновники отобрали у него казенные электрогенераторы, из-за чего в Ялте от переохлаждения умерли три больных тигренка.

Бизнесмен полагает, что чиновники в конечном счете мечтают отобрать у него парки. Думают, наверное, что это высокоприбыльный бизнес, который будет работать в любом случае. Но это не так: парки работают только потому, что "здесь есть Зубков", говорит бизнесмен. Крымские ветеринары не сумели выходить одного-единственного тигра, который жил в симферопольском зооуголке. Куда уж им справиться с полусотней особей.

– Я готов бороться за свои парки в Крыму. Я не закрою их сам, добровольно. Я переживу своих врагов и по старой китайской традиции буду сидеть на берегу, когда мимо проплывут их политические трупы. Но если парки не нужны российскому государству, так тому и быть. Их закрытие будет очень тяжелым и болезненным. Ликвидных животных и мраморные скульптуры я продам. Я не оставлю им этот парк в том виде, в котором я создал. Я оставлю здесь то, что здесь было, когда я пришел в 2006-м, – руины, – обещает Зубков.