Zoo chief sacked for failing to find mate for elephant

Moscow, Jan 29 : The mayor of Ukraine’s capital Kiev said he sacked the head of the city’s zoo after he failed to find a ‘wife’ for a male elephant, Ukrainian media reported Thursday.

Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky said he sponsored the elephant through Kiev zoo’s sponsorship programme, and his deputies are also involved in the project.

‘Today… I remembered that I feed the elephant 100,000 hryvnas ($13,000) per quarter or per month - I don’t remember exactly,’ he was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency.

‘He eats a lot,’ Chernovetsky went on. ‘He is single and needs a wife - he is 30 years old and has no wife, although he is good-looking, even handsome.’

The mayor, notorious for his extravagant initiatives, recently raised the idea of establishing a pet cemetery to be managed by the Kiev zoo.

‘If you want to bury your pet frog, (you should) order a headstone (for it). We will engrave it and charge $1,000, just to let the frog know that it was born for a reason,’ he said.