Day of Closed Animals: will the Taigan Park stop working after the lion attack

The work of the Crimean lion park "Taigan" may probably be suspended after a predator attacked the director of the organization Oleg Zubkov, lawyers interviewed by Izvestia said. On Monday, June 23, the victim was transported to a hospital in Simferopol in serious condition. According to eyewitnesses, the lion clung to Oleg Zubkov's neck during the evening feeding in the aviary. This is not the first such incident: last year, a predator bit an employee of a safari park to death, and before that attacked a tourist and bit off the finger of a one-year-old child. The fate of the infamous safari park can be found in the Izvestia article.

Why did the lion attack the director of the Taigan Park

A criminal case on violation of labor protection requirements that caused serious harm to human health was initiated after a lion attacked Oleg Zubkov, the owner of the popular Taigan safari park in Crimea. This was reported in the press service of the regional department of the Investigative Committee.

"It was established that on the evening of June 22, 2025, a predator attacked Oleg Zubkov, the founder of the park (who holds the position of Deputy director of Zoology), on the territory of the Taigan Lions Park during feeding. As a result of the incident, the victim received wounds in the form of bites in the neck and head, which were classified by the investigation as serious harm to health," the department said.

The tragedy that occurred, as emphasized in the UK, became possible due to a gross violation by the responsible employees of Taigan of safety regulations when keeping dangerous animals.

As eyewitnesses told Izvestia, on the evening of June 22, a man entered the enclosure to feed the animals, and one of the lions clung to his neck.

— The head, the face, the body, the hands were all covered in blood, everything was like meat. There wasn't a single living place on it. He was alive, conscious. And they took me to the hospital," said Elena Romanova, a visitor to the park.

According to Tatiana Aleksagina, Taigan's press secretary, Oleg Zubkov abruptly closed the door of the electric car when leaving the savannah (the main territory of the park), which attracted the predator's attention.

"Oleg took two steps away from the car, one young lion was lying under a bush, eating a few meters away. And then the sharp sound of the door closing — Oleg Alekseevich began to close the door, for some reason it turned out abruptly - the lion jumped up and ran," Tatiana Aleksagina clarified on the park's Telegram channel.

According to her, the lion did not tear Oleg Zubkov — the park director just got in the way of the predator. During the attack, the man was conscious and held the animal's mouth by the fangs, after which "the lion calmly left him and ran away."

After the incident, the victim was taken to the Belogorskaya Central District Hospital, where he underwent surgery. As surgeon Andrey Doroshenko told Izvestia, the lion tore the man's trachea with his fangs, injured his neck and tore off a large pectoral muscle. The day after the attack, the director of Taigan was transported to the N.A. Semashko Republican Hospital in Simferopol.

— The patient's condition remains stable and severe. Without negative dynamics. He's conscious. He answers questions and communicates," Dmitry Dedkov, deputy chief physician of the medical institution, told Izvestia.

The owner of the Taigan Park spent a lot of time with the predators and communicated with them as with children, Savelyiy Vashura, director of the zoo in Mariupol, told Izvestia.

— He'll beat someone with a slipper, scold them. He treats them like little kids, even though they're all grown—up lions and tigers," he noted.

According to Oleg Zubkov's colleague, many animals have been accustomed to the park director since birth, since they were born on the territory of Taigan. When the predators grew up, the owner released them into the savannah.

A walk to the lions

Basic security measures at Taigan are systematically violated, said blogger Sergey Marchenko, who has worked at the park for a long time.

— Oleg Zubkov feeds them himself, drives into savannah in his electric car and delivers meat on it. At this moment, there is no hiding place, no escape, no defense. There used to be a Lion Walk service in this savannah," the blogger noted.

During such a walk, tourist Olga Solomina almost lost her life. The victim told Izvestia that in the summer of 2018 she went on a tour of the Taigan Park with Oleg Zubkov and a student who worked there.

— Oleg Alekseevich invited me to take a picture with the lion, sat me next to him. A second later, this lion attacked me, grabbed my arm and dragged me along the ground for several meters. I woke up after a while, I was bleeding on my hand. Oleg Alekseevich drove the lion away with a slipper, put me in a car and brought me to the medical center on his territory of the park. He asked me not to call anyone, not to contact anyone," Olga Solomina shared.

According to the tourist, Oleg Zubkov offered to take her to a paid clinic if Olga said that a dog had bitten her. Then the director of the park admitted that the victim was treated by a veterinarian at the Taigan medical center.

— It took me seven months to repair my arm. While I was in intensive care, there was a report from Oleg Zubkov that I was drunk and I was beating this lion myself. He also boasted that the demand from tourists had increased after the attack. And he continued, as if nothing had happened, to provide the "Walk to the Lions" service. He provided it for another year," the woman said.

The attacks continued one after another: in 2021, a tiger bit off a one—year-old child's finger, and a year later Zubkov was sentenced to two years in prison and fined. But after a couple more years and several appeals, the victim's family dropped their claims to the park. The case was ruled an accident.

And in 2024, a lion bit to death an employee of the safari park, Leokadia Perevalova, when she was cleaning in the aviary. A criminal case was opened against the park's management for violating labor protection requirements that caused the death of a person by negligence. The park employee was paid for the funeral. The lion that killed her stayed on safari. The investigation of this case was closed, but in February of this year it was resumed at the request of the widower of the deceased woman.

Why do predators attack tourists

The attack in the safari park is quite predictable, since the lions consider this territory their own, Arfenya Karamyan, associate professor of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the RUDN University, told Izvestia. Once in the possession of a predator, a person becomes a potential victim.

— Lions are a serious danger due to their large body weight, considerable strength and speed. Feeding these animals can be considered relatively safe only if they are driven to a separate part of the park and left with food that they can freely use. If you feed the lions in close proximity, a person always finds himself in a risk zone," the expert explained.

The expert noted that tigers are much more aggressive and dangerous than lions, as they are solitary and natural hunters. Lions are more phlegmatic, but do not be deceived: their apparent calm can change to aggression at any moment, especially if the male perceives the person as a threat to his family.

— The consequences in the form of an attack on a person that we are witnessing were quite expected. The only question was when exactly that would happen. It is absolutely impossible to rely on the favor of wild animals," she said.

The work of the Taigan Park may be suspended if the inspection reveals violations regarding animal husbandry and treatment, as well as compliance with safety regulations, lawyer Makka Saligova believes.

The reason for the closure of the park may be such grounds as violation of zoo safety requirements, violation of labor protection rules, non-compliance with animal welfare requirements, confirmed Vyacheslav Pechnikov, President of the Moscow Law Corporation, member of the Moscow Lawyers Club.

— The lion's behavior alone is not a reason to close the park. In the case of the attack, the article "Violation of labor protection requirements" may have been drafted. If the attack occurred as a result of the actions or omissions of the person responsible for labor protection in the park, then the blame will be on him. If, as a result of the actions of the one who was attacked, then there will be no responsibility," the expert noted.

Lawyer Makka Saligova noted that Russia does not have an automatic procedure for euthanizing wild animals after an attack on humans. The decision is made on a case-by-case basis by experts and specially convened commissions. According to her, the predator can be isolated, transferred to another zoo, and euthanasia is considered an extreme measure.