Key points
- As a result of the Russian attack on Dnipro on the night of July 5, a crocodile named Gena, a symbol of the country’s only freshwater aquarium, died.
- There are no casualties among people – the security guard who was in the building at the time of the strike survived.
- A rocket hit a few dozen meters from the building around 6 am – the crocodile died from a barotrauma.
- The blast wave damaged the facade, windows, and doors of the complex, as well as one of the aquariums in the laboratory part.
- The facility houses about four thousand fish and animals – the facility is temporarily closed, and the restoration will be handled by the Ministry of Education.
As a result of the Russian attack on Dnipro on the night of July 5, a crocodile named Gena died – a symbol of the country’s only freshwater aquarium. There are no casualties among people – the security guard who was in the building at the time of the strike survived.
Gena – a Nile crocodile, who was cared for by the leading biologist of the educational and scientific complex “Aquarium” Larisa Yerukh for over two decades. According to her, some visitors came to the aquarium just for him.
The director of the facility, Mykola Yerukh, said that the rocket hit a few dozen meters from the building around 6 am on July 5. The condition of the crocodile was noticed later – the animal was lying under the water and did not respond to stimuli. Most likely, the animal died from a barotrauma – the blast wave ruptured its lungs.
The blast wave and debris damaged the building of the complex: almost all the windows were blown out, the facade was damaged, and the doors were torn off their hinges. In the laboratory part of the facility, one of the small aquariums was damaged – it cracked, and the water from it spilled out.
The facility houses about four thousand species of fish and animals from different continents – Africa, Australia, North and South America, Eurasia. The central tunnel aquarium of the complex survived, and the fish from the damaged tank were quickly transplanted to other aquariums.
The crocodile survived the winter attacks by the Russian Federation, when the facility was left without light and heat – the critically low temperature for this species did not cause it fatal damage. The animal did not survive the last attack.
Currently, the aquarium is temporarily closed to visitors. Employees are independently cleaning up broken glass and collecting rocket debris on the territory. The facility is on the balance of Dnipro National University, and the restoration of the building will be handled by the Ministry of Education.
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