Local residents keep animals from starving at Ukrainian zoo

On March 6, a zoo in Kharkiv, Ukraine, released a sad statement. Because the government had been diverting funds from the facility for months, its animals were at risk of starving to death.

"Our animals are not fighting for power, they do not share anyone's political views, they just want to live," the zoo said, according to a translated statement. "Without emergency measures, our completely innocent animals will start dying."

Local residents stepped up immediately. Cash and food donations poured in.

From March 8 to 10, 77,603 people visited the zoo, donating 1,148,780 grivnas ($113,988 CAD) to the cash-strapped facility.

The zoo posted a video of the busy weekend on YouTube.

On March 8, an update was posted on the Facebook page Kharkiv Zoo Friends, started by Katherine, a 31-year-old American blogger living in the city.

"First, good news: THE ANIMALS ARE OKAY for now. We just got back from the zoo- literally the entire city had brought bags and bags of food to donate: cabbage, bread, carrots, beets, greens, you name it! The zoo staff was using tractors to haul the food around. We spoke to the zoo director and she said they'd also received some cash donations."

The next day, because the zoo doesn't yet accept electronic transfers via PayPal or credit card, the zoo explained how to transfer funds to its official account on its website.

One woman launched a GoFundMe site, raising almost $5,000 in five days for the zoo. The funds will be transferred to the zoo shortly.

"We sincerely thank everyone who helped the zoo during these difficult days. To our call of 'Save the Kharkov Zoo!' it seems like the entire city responded," the zoo posted on its website.

While the outpouring of support saved the animals from immediate danger, the zoo is still in debt and hopes people won't stop donating just because the story appears to have a happy ending.