These chickens are being cared for by zoo staff alongside hundreds of pets including rats and hamsters (Picture: Getty)
The zoo in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa has opened its doors to a group of animals not usually seen behind bars – household pets.
Zoo director Igor Belyakov has taken in over 700 animals from fleeing Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Dogs, cats, snakes, rabbits, hamsters, birds, chickens, turtles, chameleons and insects – all left behind when their owners couldn’t take them on their journey – now live in the zoo.
Some animals have been able to return home. Since the beginning of the war, about 300 people have come to the zoo to retrieve their animals, while new families have been found for some creatures.
Photographer Gian Marco Benedetto documented daily life in the zoo as rats, cats and lions all get looked after and fed, petted and looked after.
Alongside family hamsters and cats, visiting lions are also sheltering from bombing elsewhere in the country.
White lions were taken there from Kharkiv Ecopark as they were terrified by the sound of airstrikes in the city.
Odessa, like the rest of the country, is dealing with power blackouts caused by Russian strikes.
A rat is fed by hand at the Odessa Zoo (Picture: Getty)
Feeding time for a pet rat whose owner could no longer take care of it. Since the beginning of the war around 300 people have returned and taken their pets home again (Picture: Getty)
New families are being found for some of the animals whose families have now left Ukraine (Picture: Getty)
Geese are among the birds left here (Picture: Getty)
One of the zoo workers takes care of a dog left behind by its Ukrainian owner (Picture: Getty)
These white lions have been brought to the zoo to escape the sound of bombing while other lions have been transferred away from Odessa (Picture: Getty)
The zoo staff have opened their doors to the small – like this hamster – as well as larger animals like dogs – and lions (Picture: Getty)
Lion figures made of paper are seen at the Odessa Zoo (Picture: Getty)
Since the start of the Russian occupation the zoo has taken in more than 700 domestic animals to live alongside the usual inhabitants (Picture: Getty)
Ukrainian Grey Cows also live at the Odessa zoo (Picture: Getty)
Wolves in captivity in the zoo (Picture: Getty)
While many refugees have taken their pets with them on journeys to neighbouring countries, hundreds have brought animals to the Odessa Zoo and asked for them to be looked after (Picture: Getty)
Some of the zoo’s lion population have been rehomed via an airlift to Springfield, Colorado in the United States (Picture: Getty)
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Odessa Zoo has opened its doors to a group of animals not usually seen behind bars – household pets.
