Crimean collaborator Zubkov, who stole animals from occupied territories, bitten by lion
The owner of the Crimean zoo Taigan, collaborator Oleg Zubkov, has been hospitalised after being attacked by a lion and is reportedly in a serious condition.
Source: Krym.Realii, a Radio Liberty regional project
Details: On 22 June, Zubkov drove his electric car to the lions to feed them meat, and one of the animals grabbed him by the neck.
No ambulance was called because it was feared Zubkov would die before it arrived. Mustafa, an employee of the Taigan park, drove Zubkov to hospital himself.
According to the Russian-appointed Ministry of Health of Crimea, Zubkov was transported from Bilohirsk to Semashko Hospital in Simferopol.
Earlier, in October 2024, Leokadia Perevalova, a long-time employee of Taigan and Zubkov's right-hand woman, died after being attacked by lions.
Commenting on her death, Zubkov said: "Lions are supreme predators, and they do not forgive mistakes."
Oleg Zubkov is an entrepreneur and the owner and founder of the Crimean zoo Kazka in Yalta and the safari park Taigan in Bilohirsk.
Until 2014, he was a citizen of Ukraine, but after the occupation of Crimea, he switched sides to the Russian Federation.
In 2015, Zubkov complained about pressure from the occupying authorities and even considered fleeing to territory controlled by Ukraine but then continued to cooperate with the Russians.
The businessman supported the war against Ukraine and participated in the removal of animals from zoos in the occupied territories.
For instance, in 2022, Zubkov took animals from Kherson Zoo (including a famous raccoon) when the Russians were retreating from the city. Zubkov said he would return the animals when the fighting stopped, but he did not keep his promise.
In April 2024, Zubkov took zebras from the Askaniia-Nova Biosphere Reserve in Kherson Oblast. And in December, according to Krym.Realii, he brought the largest batch of animals for his zoos from Kherson Oblast.
There have been numerous incidents involving animals at Zubkov's zoos: in 2020, he was arrested after a lion bit a visitor to Taigan, and in 2024, an Amur tiger bit a one-year-old child on the finger.
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