Pylyshenko’s home zoo or how I looked for lions in the village

The situation is quite interesting. An acquaintance came to visit me, and we went to Vasilievka. This is Zaporozhye region, Ukraine. And here we are walking with her through the streets of this town, or rather already judging by the scenery – outside the city. The phone rings. A friend picks up the phone and says: “Sorry, I can’t talk. It’s cold here. I’m near Zaporozhye, we’re looking for lions. Yes, they are around here somewhere.” I guess you could think we were out of our minds, but….. We actually knew exactly where we were going! We were going to the Pylyshenko family home zoo!

The city of Vasilievka continues to open its secrets for tourists. I once wrote about Popov’s castle, which is a must-see for everyone who visits Zaporizhzhya. At the other end of Vasilievka town there is a zoo where you can see famous lions, tigers, bears. And even a man who lived in the same cage with the lions!

⚠️ Due to military operations, it is no longer possible to visit this site. Most likely it no longer exists. There is a front line nearby. Zamis left as an archive in memory of this wonderful place. ⚠️

The history of the zoo began a long time ago, when as a child Alexander read the book “The Cave Lion” by Joseph Ronnie and later “Born Free” by Joy Adamson. These stories about the friendship between man and lion kept him busy and he had a dream that seemed impossible to fulfill.

However, as the years went by, the dream began to materialize. In September 2002, he and his family had a little lion cub, which was like a hissing ball of fur. It was one-month-old Katya, who was nursed and fed with goat’s milk.

Time passed. Katya turned from a cute kitten into a serious predatory beast. By then she already had a mate. Lion Samson, who was a year younger than her and had also grown up here in the family.

Over time, the hobby transformed into a whole home zoo. The animals became bigger and bigger. By the time we came to visit, there were lions, tigers, bears and a sad dog who obviously felt that he was unfairly neglected. There were cats scurrying around underfoot.

Speaking of tigers. These two tigers were given to the zoo after several ministers escaped from Ukraine as a result of the Euromaidan revolution. One of them owned these cats.

However, it is immediately noticeable that the animals here are not treated as predatory beasts, but rather as a full member of the family. The animals even perceive Alexander as the main one, although, according to him, they sometimes “check to see if he has aged” in order to take the place of the “leader”.

The animals here also realize, for all their predatory nature, that Alexander is not their enemy, although he is a potential rival. It’s not like a circus. And the Guinness record, set by the zookeeper when he lived in a cage with lions for 5 weeks, can serve as a proof of it! You can see much more about this in the video above.

It is clear that after such close contact with lion cubs, which were quietly growling in my arms, the lions and tigers in the Serbian zoo did not arouse much interest, and in the Viennese zoo I did not even waste time on them :)

How to get there:

⚠️ Due to military operations, it is no longer possible to visit this site. Most likely it no longer exists. There is a front line nearby. Zamis left as an archive in memory of this wonderful place. ⚠️