Surviving Occupation | The Brave Ukrainian Zoo Keepers Who Refused to Abandon Their Animals

That means that we're likely expecting airstrikes. Coming up this week, it's the return of War Vet. Last year, I traveled back to Ukraine to see how its people and animals are enduring as this horrific war continues. Over the next few weeks, you'll witness stories of hope and survival, meeting the remarkable teams fighting to protect life caught in the crossfire. Join me as I visit a zoo once held under Russian occupation to Discovering how staff and animals survive amidst constant missile and drone strikes. There were seven persons who stayed here. I consider them two heroes. I roll up my sleeves to help out at a charity vet clinic and visit shelters to meet some amazing people caring for Ukraine's many displaced pets. It makes me feel a bit emotional because she's been through so much. And in Kyiv, I address the National Veterinary Conference, To honour the brave vets risking everything on the frontlines of animal care. We believe in you. You are our heroes. I'm Dr Scott and this is War Vet. So it's Monday the 26th of May and everyone around the world but especially in Ukraine is waiting for a ceasefire to be declared but despite that there are reports like this Just received five minutes ago. Breaking news on BBC. Russia launches record drone attack on Ukraine overnight, as Trump says Putin has gone absolutely crazy. So it's a bit of a worry. I'm leaving for Ukraine this evening. It's tough, like, seeing the kids playing and just relaxing on a bank holiday Monday. Dad's about to go to a war zone. Before setting off to Ukraine, I'm dropping Mango off with vet nurse Sam, who's kindly looking after him while I'm away. Hello. Hi, baby. How are you? You're gonna look after Mango for me. Yeah, aww, you're gonna give me a cuddle? Thank you. I can't pack a baby to the war zone. No, all right. Bye mate. May it get me. I love you. Be a good boy. Okay. All right, off you go. Go on. All right. Thanks mate. All right, I'll get the door. Thanks. See ya, bye. Then it's time to pack up and head for the airport. This will be my third trip to Ukraine since the war began. And there's always an air of anxiety about what lies ahead. My journey into Ukraine begins with a flight to Warsaw, followed by a gruelling 12-hour bus ride across the border into Kyiv. So I've crossed the border from Poland to Ukraine and it's a really interesting time to be here in the last three days. The Russians have launched over 500 drones, which is the largest attack since the war began and they're just hitting sites all across Ukraine. So although I thought I was coming here on this visit during a time of ceasefire, in fact the situation's got a lot more dangerous. I've just arrived in Kyiv, it just seems like a normal city, just functioning, families walking around, having fitness in parks, but it does feel a bit subdued, I would give it that, and I think most of the bombing occurs at night time, it's eerily silent at the moment. So I just got out of bed to the sound of this, I don't know if you guys can hear that, so it's air sirens, likely expecting airstrikes, a haunting sound actually. But it's the first time I've heard it, and that's not a comfortable sound. Go straight to the shelter and wait for the signal from the air raid. So today I'm heading to a zoo north of Kyiv, a place called the 12-month zoo. And actually it's in an area where at the start of the war in 2022, the Russians actually pushed from the north down and occupied the zoo. where they actually held also almost like a fortress for about four weeks during which time very few of the zoo workers were able to get in and as a result the animals really suffered. So today I'm going to chat to some of the workers and just understand exactly what happened. Before reaching the zoo we stop at Irpin River, the site of a critical turning point in the battle for Kyiv. So right here is the Domodulsky Bridge and it was actually blown up by the Ukrainians as they were pushed south and this line, the Irpin River, divided the Ukrainians defending and the Russians attacking. But the problem with blowing up this bridge is that it limited supplies further north and the zoo is further north and that caused catastrophic impacts on the animals that live there. Thank you. Back in 2015, the 12-month zoo opened its doors as a state-of-the-art sanctuary, a peaceful space for people to connect with nature. For just seven years on, this haven became an occupied battlefield. Now I'm meeting the zoo's founder, Mykhailo Pintchuk, to hear their story firsthand. So what are the animals that you have here at the zoo? We thought of when we were crafting the zoo. the enclosures of the animals that we would like to have so we tried to create special enclosures for the special animals that that we would like to see here we are not huge specialists we are not professional zoologists and we wanted to study personalities rather than species and that's why we thought of certain animals that we really would like to get into acquaintance and make friends with We have a family of giraffes, four of them at the moment. We hope it'll be more. We have a rhino, the only rhino in Ukraine at the moment. Shortly after the invasion began in February 2022, Russian troops took control of Demidov and the zoo itself. They cut off power, gas and crucial food deliveries. For weeks, the animals endured relentless bombardments, trapped amidst the deafening explosions. There were missiles going down towards Kyiv and partially they were intercepted on their way, right above our zoo. And when the tanks and all of that were shooting because we are in the middle, obviously made a lot of noise. And the animals started running around, some killed themselves. Some of the zoologists that remain in the zoo try to grab and obviously when there are four or five people and more than 200 animals, you can't grab everyone. But it worked up to some stage with some animals and some of them such as rhino for example truly I believe survived due to these people that heroically stayed during these terrible hours and days here in the occupation. Because physically it was still occupied by Russians. The tanks drove into the zoo and parked there. Just on the lawn, we have now no parking for tanks and sign there. there. Uh, At least you've got a sense of humor about it. That's all you can do is try and explore your sense of humor when these things happen. Mikhailo has taken me to meet the zoo's African white rhino who still bears the deep psychological scars of the fighting. So this is Archie. Yes, Archie the rhino. The Archie. He is 14 years old now, that's a white rhino, and he arrived to us, originally he's coming from Africa, but he left Africa when he was very little. Can I ask, during the occupation, what happened to Archie as far as his body condition, as far as his emotions, and also any physical injuries that he suffered. Archie was here at all times. Obviously, he's not transportable. And he was here at all times during this occupation period and during these most dangerous several first days when the first explosions took place and it was pretty noisy. And he started running around here trying to destroy the bars, the feeder. the drink bowl and and he even partially succeeded and that is very dangerous because when he rips off the feeder for example the metal remainders of it have pretty sharp edges and that's something that we were very concerned of. You had a lot of brave members of staff actually stay here whilst the Russian soldiers rolled in. The tanks through the gates of your zoo and actually occupied here for four weeks and Sergei was one of them. Do you think that he is one of the reasons that Archie is healthy and has come out unscathed? He certainly is. In total there were seven persons who stayed here, all of them zoologists, heads of departments and we had two checkpoints on one side and on the other side of the zoo and it was difficult to get in. It's not that they were beating somebody, but it is very unpleasant as you understand that you are checked and that check is taking place by somebody who is pointing it to a submachine gun and then he's jumping off the tank, etc. It's like psychology. It's frightening. Yeah, it is frightening. So I consider them being true heroes at this time, and yes, the answer is that if these seven persons left, it would have been probably a different story when we got liberated in a month's time, because they were taking care, giving food, whatever was available, giving water, which is more important, and doing whatever it was possible. Sometimes talking is more important than giving another. another handful of seed or something talking and and so they because these are not wild animals these are these are in between pets and white animals as we all know they have a separate category they're called zoo animals and they cannot survive without people. It seems like Archie managed pretty well Despite Bond's... Flying backwards and forwards across the sky here, what are the animals that didn't fare so well? The largest amount of victims was amongst monkeys, African monkeys. They started running around like crazy and hitting themselves, beating themselves against the walls and the result we had several deaths. Then the same happened with our striped hyena, the same here. There were around 25 animals in total, including five, six birds. The rest mainly from the either carnivore and the primates department. The list of them per species, I do not want to start recalling and remembering. Because it was just too many? It's unpleasant, too many, unpleasant, and there is no point. And how are you and your staff coping, first of all going through the war, but also not being able to explain to the animals why life has become so difficult and so stressful? Yes, it is unpleasant. Yes, we're much more careful with them now. We give them even more attention. We look at them and we remember that these are not now simply brothers in family, but sort of brothers in arms, I don't know. And these It is. Difficulties, they only result in more love, and this is something that needs to be compensated. How do you compensate trouble? One way, with love. Now it's my turn to get up close and personal with Archer. Ah, thank you, Sergey. Whereabouts, where does he like it? Behind the ears, tummy? So they've got such thick skin, it's almost impossible to use something gentle, so use the bottom of a broom. And just like a lot of animals, they love contact. How are you? Okay. Next, Mikhailo leads me past the alligators to meet one of the zoo's most lovable residents. A giant who adores a treat and a bit of attention. Hi, you're gonna have this? Yeah, do you want it? Go on then. You want it? Good boy. Can I do that? You sure? I just need to know the word open wide in Ukrainian. And it's as slobbery as it looks. One of the really difficult things. To look after an animal this size during occupation, during normal times, not just through a war, is that they eat a lot to maintain this body condition. So to get that amount of fresh food in here whilst the Russians are throwing bombs in all directions must have been so difficult. So this is obviously that hippo enclosure and perfect for this type of mammal to live comfortably. But you also used it for another reason during the occupation, didn't you? The primate's house was cut off. The electricity does not have any pools, did not have any gas, and basically the temperature there was around 13. That's very cold for the monkeys. And as a result, we decided to relocate them from the primate's house to here. And they remained here at all times until we were liberated, which was the first week of March. The monkeys sat in very small boxes. Those boxes, you normally use them to transport, and it is acceptable to keep monkeys in such boxes for For half a day, maybe for a day, they had to sit in it for the whole month. And when they came out, it was hard to look at them, how dirty and thin as a pin and all that they were. But they stayed alive. They stayed alive. That's very true. And that's the most important part of it. And it's those brave, resilient primates we're going to see next. Two of the larger apes, orangutans Joseph and Magda, share a truly special bond with Mikhailo. During the Russian occupation, he decided to attempt a perilous evacuation to get them out. An operation fraught with danger. So you obviously know this animal very well. What's his name? Joseph. And he is with me since he was one month old. He grew up with me at my house and he had a separate room and lived there for quite a while, for a year, I guess. And then when the zoo was ready, we moved both himself and Magda, who also used to live at my home, to here. Very much miss them, but you spend so much time here. In any event, it is better that all the staff is here and this enclosure is much more suitable for them. So what was the process to get these two orangutans out of the zoo? It was difficult to organize because there was no communication, no phone connection. So the vet that was available at the zoo at the time and the keeper sedated the orangs while we were waiting on the other side of the exploded bridge, myself and my wife. We realized that we had only half an hour because we were afraid under those conditions to give more medicine to them to And during that half an hour we needed to load them into crates, put them onto lorry, drive them all the way from here to the bridge, pass the Russian block post and they asked what was in the crates and they said the apes. So thank God they did not force to open up the crates because it was very cold. Yes. So that's what happened and that took longer than half an hour so they started waking up. And then we grabbed him from the Red Cross car in two hours, drove very quickly to my home, and I live here nearby. First we released him because he was already halfway out in any event. And with her, we couldn't wake her up. And at some stage, we thought that she passed away. And it was another parable. We were calling everybody what to do, told us best not to just let it go the way it went. And finally, she woke up. But at some stage, she didn't give a sign of her life. And yes, the next morning I saw already my kids again, destroying everything around, not being able to sit in their former sleeping place because it's too small and not designed for it because they're now much stronger. So we agreed with a friend of ours who has a private zoo in the Lviv region and we moved both of them there. And my wife went with them and she stayed with them for that two months. And then eventually they've now come back. Yeah, the zoo and settled in and so now that they're back Do you see an impact still because there's still missiles being shot and drones being shot out of the sky every day Just like people they got used to it. They even in recently there was some drone taken down not far and it was very Noisy, it's the noise was very loud But they looked at it as if it was a thunder Just the thunder, they got used to it and that sounds dramatic, it sounds very sad that these things happen, that somebody has got used to things like that. They are kids, they're supposed to get used to the juicy fruits and swimming pool and sun and stuff, instead they are used to drones. Meeting these animals and the extraordinary team who look after them has been a deeply inspiring experience. It's hard to imagine living with the daily threat of airstrikes, but everyone here just keeps going, protecting and caring for these creatures and keeping the park open as a sanctuary for local families. I look forward to the day I can visit again when peace is restored and both the team and their animals can live their lives without fear. Coming soon, as War Vet continues, I lend a hand at a charity vet clinic. That's one of the more disgusting things that we have to do as a vet. And in Kyiv, I address the National Veterinary Conference. Your stories moved me beyond words. They reminded me of why I chose this profession in the first place. Thanks so much for watching. Don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel as it really does help us bring you these amazing stories. We'll see you next time, right here. On War Vet.