TUESDAY January 17, 2023: 'NOAH'S ARK: Animal Victims of War' by ZUMA Press Award winning photojournalist Mark Edward Harris in Ukraine. Animals becoming the victims of human conflict is nothing new. Images of dead horses strewn across countless 19th century and early 20th century battlefields can attest to this sad reality. In Ukraine, there's been a migration from east to west not only of people but of animals. Some are pets brought out by their fleeing owners. Some are zoo animals or strays gathered up by staff and volunteers from NGOs who are going into frontline areas. Regardless of the type of animals they are, war, a concept they cannot comprehend, creates anxiety, stress and fear, emotions that are not exclusive to humans. A 'Noah's Ark' of animals continue to be transferred to safer sanctuaries as part of this western movement. Welcome to 'NOAHS ARK: Animal Victims of War'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #873: TUESDAY January 17, 2023: 'NOAH'S ARK: Animal Victims of War' by ZUMA Press Award winning photojournalist Mark Edward Harris in Ukraine. Animals becoming the victims of human conflict is nothing new. Images of dead horses strewn across countless 19th century and early 20th century battlefields can attest to this sad reality. In Ukraine, there's been a migration from east to west not only of people but of animals. Some are pets brought out by their fleeing owners. Some are zoo animals or strays gathered up by staff and volunteers from NGOs who are going into frontline areas. Regardless of the type of animals they are, war, a concept they cannot comprehend, creates anxiety, stress and fear, emotions that are not exclusive to humans. A 'Noah's Ark' of animals continue to be transferred to safer sanctuaries as part of this western movement. Welcome to 'NOAHS ARK: Animal Victims of War'
A dog jumps out of an animal display that was destroyed at the Feldman Ecopark outside of Kharvik during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
JARI, an orangutan at the Kharkiv Zoo was on of the two orangutans there before Russia's invasion. The nearby Feldman Ecopark had seven orangutans but two were killed and the sanctuary had to be closed with a loss of many other animals as well as several zoo keepers. Four of their orangutans were relocated to the Kharkiv Zoo.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A young girl, one of three visitors, connects through the glass with JOHN, an 18-year-old chimpanzee at the 'XII Months' Zoo north of Kyiv during a blackout. She and her parents were the only visitors to the zoo. In the pre-war days the zoo was often crowded with visitors.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A chimpanzee named CHICHI at the Krakiv Zoo. The sounds of war impact animals to varying degrees. Chimpanzees share 99 percent of the same DNA with humans as well as similar reactions similar reactions to stress-inducing situations.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A rescued tiger with a keeper at the Kyiv Zoo on a morning with several missiles attacks on the city. Most animals do not respond well to loud sudden noises or a change in their routine and the comfort they receive from their caretakers is immeasurable.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
TONY, a gorilla who was born in 1974 in Nuremberg, Germany was transferred to the Kyiv Zoo in 1999. He has shown relatively little effect of the war that has gone on around him while other animals have displayed signs of stress due to the sounds of war. The biggest issue with the gorilla is keeping his winter enclosure warm with the constant loss of electricity. The zoo has begun piping in heat from a wood-burning stove to keep the 48-year-old gorilla alive.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
Kyiv Zoo Senior Researcher YEGOR YAKOVLOV with a coati. The 'coatimundis' is native to warmer regions of North and Central America.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A rescued raccoon with a keeper at the Kyiv Zoo on a morning that saw several missiles attacks on the city. Most animals do not respond well to loud sudden noises or a change in their routine and the comfort they receive from their caretakers is immeasurable.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
An animal keeper at the Kyiv Zoo holds a piece of meat to feed a Siberian tiger. Feed for animals at zoos throughout Ukraine have been tightly rationed after the Russian attack.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
Kyiv Zoo Director KYRYLO TRANTIN next to a wood-burning stove to warm the enclosure for 48-year-old Tony the Gorilla during the frequent power outages due to Russian missile attacks on the city's infrastructure. Unlike the zoo's Siberian tiger, animals such as Tony are not capable of surviving the winters without artificial heat.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
TONY, a gorilla who was born in 1974 in Nuremberg, Germany was transferred to the Kyiv Zoo in 1999. He has shown relatively little effect of the war that has gone on around him while other animals have displayed signs of stress due to the sounds of war. The biggest issue with the gorilla is keeping his winter enclosure warm with the constant loss of electricity.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
NATALIA POPOVA of the Wild Animals Rescue Center outside of Kyiv checks on one of two lionesses that were saved along with a tiger from a private zoo in Donetsk oblast where they had been kept in inappropriate conditions for breeding and selling. They will be housed at the rescue center until they can be evacuated to a new facility with proper conditions and without war.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
CHADA, a Tien Shan (Himalayan) bear at the White Rock Bear Center outside of Kyiv. These animals are listed in the International Red List as an endangered species. There are only three hundred of them left in the wild. Chada was born on Christmas Day 1998. Her parents were brought to the Soviet Union from wildlife in Central Asia and distributed to state circuses and zoos. Chada was in the Ukrainian national circus and was retired into a small rusty cage in the industrial zone of Kyiv. Animal activists were able to get her moved into a large fenced-in open space with access to a cage and den at the White Rock Bear Center.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
JAVELINA is an arctic wolf at the White Rock Bear Center outside of Kyiv. She was crippled and lived in a tiny cage on a concrete floor. Javelina was born in a menagerie in the Donetsk oblast in 2021. Activists were able to evacuate her after continued Russian attacks and in, 2022 she was resettled in the White Rock Bear Center where she has her own large enclosure with a pond, den and vegetation. Javelina is not afraid of bears in the adjoining enclosure and frequently plays with them along the shared fence that separates them.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A woman smiles while carrying her dog on the street on a winters day in Kyiv.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A friendly dog on the street in Kyiv, out for a walk with his owner during the Russian invasion.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A young woman who fled her hometown of Kherson with her dog stands next to graffiti art on a wall in Kyiv.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
HORACE, an Asian elephant was so terrified of explosions he was put on sedatives after the war in Ukraine began. During the warmer days when he would be outside, as soon as he heard the air raid sirens he would instinctively go into his enclosure. Regardless of the type of animals they are, war, a concept they cannot comprehend, creates anxiety, stress and fear, emotions that are not exclusive to humans.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
An animal keeper at the 'Month XII' Zoo in Demydiv village outside of Kyiv interacts with an eight-year-old female orangutan named MAGDA. The private zoo came under Russian control at the beginning of the war until the Ukrainian military was able to liberate the area.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
CHICHI, a chimpanzee at the Kharkiv Zoo. The zoo was shielded by a missile attack by a neighboring building. Power outages due to Russia's attacks on the city's infrastructure have been the main issue for the animal keepers.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
A poster in downtown Kyiv demonstrates how mine-sniffing dogs are assisting in the war effort during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
© Mark Edward Harris/ZUMA Press Wire
