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Russian Airstrike Devastates Kharkiv EcoPark, Killing Rare Birds and Wounding Lions
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russian forces struck the Feldman EcoPark outside Kharkiv with a guided aerial bomb, killing most of the park’s birds and injuring several large animals, including lions, according to the park’s founder Oleksandr Feldman, who spoke to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne on January 1.
Feldman said the strike destroyed winter shelters used to house predators and birds during cold weather. The condition of the park’s tigers remains uncertain, with one animal fleeing into a three-story building and another hiding inside a partially damaged enclosure.
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“We can’t say yet what’s happening with the tigers,” Feldman said. “One ran into a three-story building. Another is sitting in a half-open enclosure, hiding in a small shelter.”
Park staff are currently waiting for a tranquilizer rifle to relocate the animals safely.
According to Feldman, the strike was catastrophic for the park’s bird population.
“The birds are dead—if not all of them, then the vast majority,” he said. “The air bomb hit the aviary. All the parrots, pheasants, and all the rare birds that needed warm conditions were in that building.”
Ukrainian regional officials confirmed that Russian forces used guided aerial bombs to attack the outskirts of Kharkiv.
The victim, a 40-year-old woman who volunteered at the eco-park, was hospitalized with blast injuries.
“One volunteer was injured. It doesn’t appear to be severe—a head laceration. She got into the ambulance herself and was taken to the hospital,” Feldman said.
The Feldman EcoPark has been repeatedly damaged since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with animal shelters and facilities for small animals destroyed multiple times, Feldman added.
Earlier, three lions—Cleopatra, Zorya, and Mira—were successfully relocated from Ukraine, where Russia’s invasion has devastated wildlife habitats, to a sanctuary in South Africa, in a rescue mission supported by international partners, including American content creator MrBeast.
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-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
