Krava, the saddest orangutan in the world, so traumatized by the Russian bombs that he played children’s laughter to cure depression

A HEARTBROKEN orangutan rescued from Kharkiv under siege is so traumatized that keepers have given him a TV so he can hear the laughter of children.

The 11-year-old great ape named Krava was abducted from a zoo in northeast Ukraine where Russian missiles and artillery bombarded the town.

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But despite moving 600 miles to the Limpopo Zoo in Medenychi, western Ukraine, Krava is still in grave danger.

In his new home, more than 600 animals are threatened with starvation because his owner is rapidly running out of money.

Serhiy Kostiv welcomed Krava despite his business being on its knees, the usually crowded zoo empty and the money drying up.

He explained how the orangutan has been struggling since his epic journey – and arrives at a desolate new home.

The owner said: ‘We had to dust off a TV and turn it on to try and cheer him up.

“Krava loves kids’ channels and watches them all day. With no excitable children making his day by visiting the zoo, he smiles while watching cartoons.

“Krava is really lucky. Most of the roads are too dangerous to transport large animals, and many guards have fled.

Without paying customers, the 600 creatures at Mr Kostiv’s zoo – including nine lions, 11 tigers, leopards, jaguars and bears – face a perilous future.

The 49-year-old showed The Sun his empty attraction, which is normally bustling with more than 85,000 visitors a year.

He said: “If nothing changes by summer it will be very, very difficult here. I have hardly any savings. I fear the worst.

“We will try to find other homes for my animals, but I don’t know if it will be possible. It looks bleak.”

It takes £6,800 to run his 20-acre zoo and feed his 210 different types of animals every month.

Empty picnic tables and closed gazebos symbolize the problems facing the zoo as the war rages on.

Mr Kostiv, owner of the zoo since 2008, told The Sun: “This is a desperate situation for all of us. We love animals and want to help them. But I don’t know how we will survive.

“It may sound strange, but the animals seem depressed without any visitors. There is some disappointment. It’s so quiet.

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“Maybe the animals sense my fears and those of my staff. I think they have psychological needs.

“We have four wolves who have been very sad with no one here. We try to cheer them up by spending time with them.

Amid the eerily quiet zoo, the lions and tigers barely register a moan. Even the 90 monkeys in an enclosure stopped their playful cries.

A Himalayan brown bear is lounging all alone in a bare enclosure with nothing to stimulate him. A wild spotted ocelot cat – the only one of its kind in Ukraine – sleeps all day.

Surveying the grim scene, Mr Kostiv, who landed Russian missiles on military targets near his zoo, said: ‘There are usually school trips and my zoo is a happy place full of laughter and excited children. Now it’s a ghost town and you can hear a pin drop.

“We must believe that the war will end soon before it is too late for the animals. We hope and pray.

Conservation charities have been able to relocate some animals from Ukraine’s 14 zoos to neighboring Poland amid the raging conflict.

But many vulnerable animals are forced to stay in their enclosures as the threat of Russian artillery and airstrikes makes it impossible to take them elsewhere.

Krava came from a compound in Kharkiv that has faced relentless bombardment since Russia began its invasion.

A witness said the city center was “frozen like a page of history, motionless for the world to see”, Al Jazeera reported.

Just days ago, Russian forces fired rockets at a nuclear research facility in the besieged city, Ukrainian officials said.

The same site was attacked by Russian troops earlier this month.

‘FORGOTTEN FACE’

Mr Kostiv says the animals “are the forgotten face of the Russian invasion“.

Experts say loading highly stressed animals into crates and transporting them through noisy and complicated conflict zones can cause serious illness or death.

Samantha Ward, senior lecturer in animal science at Nottingham Trent University, said the current conflict is likely to have a “terrifying impact” on animals in zoos.

“Even under normal circumstances moving zoo animals is not an easy task, transporting animals can have negative impacts on animal welfare,” she said in an article. university.

“Animals being transported can suffer from dehydration, fatigue, behavioral changes and stress.

“Research has also shown that animals form relationships with caretakers and so this could have additional welfare implications if animals are moved under stressful conditions to new locations.

“As the war continues there are reports of zoo animals being killed in the explosions and ‘many dead animals with others roaming the streets’ including lions, but these reports have not been verified by zoos,” she said.

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