From Leontovych to Yasser Arafat: How Mykolaiv Zoo experiences third war becoming refuge for bathroom crocodile

Leontovych and the crocodile

Mykolaiv Zoo has survived three wars in its 123 years. And it has always worked. There are many interesting things on the walls in the director's office. There's a “serrated sword” from a sawfish. Topchyi bought it many years ago from the homeless for 100 hryvnias. They stole it somewhere.

Behind the man's back is a portrait of Mykola Leontovych. Not the author of “Shchedryk is a world-famous work for chorus by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych, composed in the early twentieth centuryShchedryk”, but another one, the founder of the Mykolaiv Zoo. In 1901, this wealthy man gathered a collection of fish, reptiles, and exotic birds at home.

He lived in the center of the city, on Admiralska Street, the most prestigious street at the time. Later, the regional state administration was built on this site, which was destroyed by a Russian missile in 2022, killing 37 people.

In 1909, Leontovych was elected mayor. Under his leadership, museums, the first cinema, the first psychiatric hospital, and the first tram were opened. Water supply and sewerage were laid, and streets were paved.

And Leontovych continues to invite everyone to his private zoo, the Aquarium, where his entire family works. There were only a few collections like his in Europe.

No documents have been preserved on how the animals lived in the zoo during the First World War. What is known for certain is that in 1918 it was nationalized, and the owner was sent to prison. But he was released a year later because the animals began to die.

The Aquarium Zoo, as it was then called, was maintained for the next few years by the authorities, either the state or the city.

This is what the almanac “All Mykolaiv Region” wrote in 1927: “The Mykolaiv Aquarium is a landmark not only in Mykolaiv, but also the only one in the Soviet Union. After the Aquarium of Naples and the Aquarium of Monaco, it is the third in Europe in terms of the richness of exhibits, so it is of great interest.”

Mykola Leontovych was fired from the zoo in 1930, and 7 years later he was kicked out of his own home and arrested for allegedly having ties to counterrevolutionaries, i.e. those who opposed the This refers to the Great October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks established their party dictatorshiprevolution. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the right to correspond.

“It seems that he died in 1941. Most likely, he was shot in the Kharkiv prison of the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs — ed.). The Red Army was retreating, and the prisoners were not taken away, but they were not left behind either,” suggests Volodymyr Topchyi.

He spent about 20 years trying to bring Leontovych's name back from oblivion. He wrote a book about him, My Leontovych, helped to erect a monument, and initiated that a city square and an order be named after him.

Relics from the house of the zoo's founder — his late nineteenth-century portrait, an inkwell, a microscope, personal belongings — are kept by Topchyi as the apple of his eye. They are safely hidden from Russian missiles.

The Germans gave money for the zoo, but shot the lions

During the Second World War and until 1967, the zoo was managed by Fedir Nichykov. At that time, there was no water. It was transported in barrels from the Inhul, which caused the aquarium fish to die. There was no food: the zoo workers were looking for horse corpses in the city and cutting off meat for predators.

The Germans summoned Nichikov to the commandant's office on the tenth day after they entered Mykolaiv. They were surprised that he did not run away. He replied that he could not leave the animals. In his memo, he said that the animals needed food and the workers needed to be paid. And he received the money.

The tickets have been preserved since then, with information on them in Ukrainian and German. The price was 50 kopecks for children and 1 karbovanets for adults. There is also information about the salary: 280, 340, 400 karbovantsi. To understand the situation, a haystack cost 7,000 karbonatsi back then.

The nobility disappeared when the Germans retreated in 1944. The director's wife has this memory: “We managed to hide some animals in the basement and disguise the entrance. Shrapnel from the explosions at the plant fell on the territory of the zoo, and the sound of bombing could be heard. The Germans and policemen knocked on the gate every now and then.

The Germans offered us to leave because they were going to mine the zoo. Fortunately, they didn't, and we stayed at our post. It became even harder to water and feed the animals. A German car was driving around the city, and a loudspeaker in Russian announced that the men who were hiding had to come at a certain hour. Otherwise, they would be found and shot on the spot, as well as their families.

At the same time, Director Nichykov and three employees were hiding in the attic above the lions. After this announcement, I moved them to the basement and disguised them in a niche with old cages. They stayed in this position for three days. On March 28, at dawn, I saw our soldiers through the window. My joy knew no bounds.”

On March 29, 1944, the first entry appeared in the review book: “In liberated Mykolaiv, we had the opportunity to visit the Aquarium Zoo for the first time. Military unit No. 251 was the first to enter. Many animals were killed by the German invaders. Lions and bears were shot dead. Only empty cages remained. Only crocodiles, peacocks and a few other animals survived. The water in the aquariums is frozen. Goldfish swim under the ice. Platoon leader Chuchkov”.

Gradually, the zoo was restored and in 1978 moved to a new location, where it now occupies 20 hectares.

The current war: eight bombs from Russians and online tickets from around the world

Now the zoo has the largest collection of animals in Ukraine: 450 species and about 4000 animals. There are rare ones, such as polar bears and snow leopards.

When asked about his favourites, Topchyi jokes with a serious expression: “There are two of them: my wife Tetiana, who came to work at the zoo before me, and a striped hyena. Not a spotted one. The mother abandoned the newborn cubs, and my wife and I took them home. It turned out that they were very beautiful and gentle animals.”

I ask him if he knows every animal in the zoo.

"When I was a deputy I knew them all. Now I have a lot of responsibilities, and I can stay in my office for a whole day.”

And now he is having a meeting with his employees. Topchyi lets us go for a walk around the zoo. He joins us later and shows us the tails of the missiles that have hit here since the beginning of the Great War. Eight in three months. People and animals miraculously survived.

“Since the fall of 2021, I've realized that there would be an invasion, so I tried to stock up on food. At 6 am on February 24, a friend called me and said: ‘I'm going to buy some canned stewed meat.’ I told him it was late and he should let me sleep for two more hours. And I really fell asleep,” Volodymyr Mykolaiovych recalls.

Mykolaiv residents fled the city in a panic, 200,000 out of 500,000 evacuated. Transportation stopped, the city was constantly shelled. The fighting took place 800 meters from the zoo.

At that time, the institution had more than 230 employees, and only one person left. The rest of them came to live here with their families. And they stayed for four months! It's good that each of the seven branches has a living room with hot water, a toilet, a stove and a sofa.

Meanwhile, citizens brought hundreds of animals to the zoo: hamsters and chinchillas, guinea pigs and parrots. They asked: “Just keep them safe, we'll come back and get them.” What did the employees have to do? They took all of them, except for dogs and cats.

“‘I have a crocodile in my bathroom. Will you take it?’ someone called the director. ‘You're out of your mind’.”

While Volodymyr was on his way to work, the large Nile crocodile had already been delivered. Yasir Arafat, as he was named, still lives in the zoo. Some of the small animals were adopted by Mykolaiv residents who returned home.

In the first few weeks, the director realized that feed stocks were rapidly disappearing. What to do? Where to get the money? They asked their followers to help them on social media, both by purchasing online tickets and food. The townspeople brought apples, carrots, and cabbage. They brought as much as they could: a kilogram, a box, a sack. Someone brought honey, someone brought hay. The entire square in front of the zoo was filled with food.

“People of Mykolaiv helped tremendously, I am very grateful to them,” we walk past the elephant enclosure. There are two of them there. A tigress roars long and sadly behind us. Her voice is heard throughout the zoo.

Topchyi continues his story. On March 16, 2022, he came home to take a bath. He and his wife talked about the situation, and then journalists from the Voice of America called. They were interested in everything: what kind of fighting, where, what about the city, what about the zoo.

“I thanked the guys who were defending the city. The enemy was already on the outskirts, 10 kilometers away. And at the end I started to cry. No, I sobbed. I asked them to help the zoo: to buy online tickets because the animals have nothing to eat and the place is closed,” Topchyi recalls.

The next day, a video of his commentary on the Voice of America Facebook page received 600,000 views. And most importantly, people from all over the world started buying tickets. Friends called the director and said they were crying with him. Some people even bought about 50 tickets at once. Back then, tickets cost 100 hryvnias each.

The zoo had to open four accounts in different currencies. That's how they raised $2.5 million.

European zoos also responded. They donated 1.7 million euros, which have already been distributed among zoos across Ukraine. Thanks to these funds, all of them have been saved.

Take your dog to the zoo

In November 2022, the Russians blew up the water intake. The city was left without water. And the zoo needs 10 thousand liters a day. Water was brought in tankers from Odesa and Kropyvnytskyi, and people carried it in bottles.

“A month later, I realized that something had to be done. So we drilled our first well. But the water turned out to be unsuitable. We drilled a second one. The city also supplied water, but it was salty, from the estuary. We decided to use our own: it's good that a year ago we were given purification systems. They are so good that our employees purify the water and take it home. Because the taps have sewage running from them,” Volodymyr continues.

When the blackouts began, the heat-loving animals were moved to a gas-heated room. After all, some animals, especially primates, can die of cold. Then Topchyi's friends from Europe helped. They sent powerful generators to him and other zoos.

Now Mykolaiv Zoo has three types of heating. They are ready for winter.

Volodymyr Topchyi has an award for the defense of the city. Among dozens of others, he is particularly proud of this one.

I ask him to go to one of the animals in the enclosure to take a photo.

“I can go to anyone, but only once,” the man jokes with a serious expression.

We go up the side stairs, and Logan the giraffe's head sticks out in front of us. Topchyi is picking up carrots and deliberately turns away. Logan reaches for it. A spotted domestic cat lazily walks by.

There are about 30 cats in the zoo. They behave like masters: they enter the cages and roam wherever they want. They are well-fed and shiny. They are protected and pampered in every possible way because they catch rats.

And Vasia the crocodile, mentioned by the director, is now in the zoo's museum. He was made into a stuffed animal with varnished skin and a plastic mouth. He is needed for studying by schoolchildren and students. As well as skulls of other animals and bird eggs.

The zoo still needs support, as there are not so many visitors, and the need for food for the animals is constant. You can buy online tickets here: for adults, children, and dogs.