(Reuters) – The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, a southern Ukrainian town controlled by Moscow, said on Wednesday that claims by a local private zoo that all of its 300 animals had drowned after the nearby dam crumbled were false.
A representative for the zoo, called Kazkova Dibrova, said via the zoo’s Facebook account on Tuesday that the park had been completely flooded and that all of its animals had been killed after the nearby Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed.
Vladimir Leontyev, the Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, said on Wednesday that the assertion was untrue and that the zoo’s animals had been evacuated in 2022.
“Actually, the situation is that last year all the animals were evacuated and moved away from Kazkova Dibrova,” he said.
“There was nobody left there, not a single animal.”
Reuters could not independently verify his assertion.
The zoo itself gave a different account of events on Wednesday, saying that some initial information about what was going on had not been completely accurate and that some animals had not been at the zoo when it was flooded.
“Yesterday, the workers, being in a state of shock, gave me not quite accurate information. Some of the animals were not on the territory of the (zoo), but were at home with Val,” a zoo representative said, referring to the zoo’s director.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)