Over 200 rare animal species killed in fire at Crimea zoo

The Tropic Park Zoo that housed more than 200 species of exotic animals, burned down in the city of Yevpatoria in Crimea on April 16 at night. Almost none of the animals managed to escape.

Photo: flickr.com by Rob Swystun is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

About 625 square meters of the zoo area were engulfed in flames. Extinguishing the fire was complicated by the fact that there was hay in enclosures, rescuers said. It is believed that the fire started due to a short circuit. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be established.

Rescuers said that they could only save bears because their enclosure was located on the first floor. Several other animals were able to survive the fire as well.

All other animal species, such as crocodiles, boa constrictors, capybaras, meerkats, mooses, many rare birds were unable to escape and died.

The Tropic Park was an exotic animal zoo in Yevpatoria. It was located in an abandoned amusement park on Tokarev Street. The building has five floors.

Last November, a strong hurricane caused serious damage to an aquarium museum in Sevastopol. Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said that more than 500 inhabitants of the museum could not survive the storm. The number of victims later exceeded 800 — tropical freshwater animals from four continents of the world.