Blogger Slams Ussuriysk Eco-Park Conditions

Entrepreneur Viktoria Khomyakova from Ussuriysk complained about the condition of the Lotus eco-park next to the recreation center of the same name and the lotus lake in the village of Dubovy Klyuch (Primorsky Krai, Russia). She posted a video on Instagram* in which she claimed the animals look hungry and their enclosures are not cleaned.

“We went for the experience, thinking we would see a paradise, blooming lotuses, tranquility, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Have you seen the conditions the animals are kept in here? We were not just upset, we were truly horrified. These are not enclosures, these are torture chambers. Hungry eyes, animals standing in their own filth,” the woman said.

According to her, the animals had no clean water and there was not a single employee nearby. She also said that because of rotting vegetables in boxes and sacks, swarms of flies were flying around and there was an unpleasant smell.

“We couldn’t just walk past, we rushed to feed the deer, poured them hay, fresh apples, cucumbers. They pounced on the food so greedily as if they hadn’t seen feed for days. Antisanitation, a monstrous smell of rot, urine and excrement,” Viktoria said.

The woman suggested that expired products are brought to feed the animals, dumped in a heap and no one removes them even after they completely spoil. At the end of the video, she showed negative reviews about the eco-park on 2GIS and clarified that she recorded the video so that supervisory agencies would pay attention to the animals’ living conditions.

“We don’t want to be silent witnesses, so let everyone see this. Animals can’t speak, so right now their voice is us. Where are the regulatory bodies that should be checking this?” the Primorye resident asked.

A VLADIVOSTOK1.RU correspondent contacted the Lotus recreation center to get an official comment. According to administrator Marina, the dirt in the enclosure is soil washed away by rain, and the animals are regularly fed by eco-park employees and visitors.

“We had a week of rain, the sun has only just come out from behind the clouds, it’s clear that it will be washed out. The enclosures are in a little forest, the sun hardly reaches them. They dry out over time. The girl came at a moment, filmed it all, and it turned out as it turned out,” the woman said.

She emphasized that the smell will be felt in any case, since a large number of animals live on the territory.

The video was also commented on by Sergey Bryukhovetsky, the owner of the farm where the deer and pigs are kept. He said the animals are well fed and go to the toilet not all over the territory but in specific places, and previously visitors had never complained about their condition.

“The girl wants to score points on blogging without understanding the situation. She said she didn’t see any workers, but people also rest. The livestock were fed in the morning, afternoon and evening. It’s just ridiculous. People walk around, feed them and are happy,” Sergey said.

Speaking about the rotting products, the man said fresh vegetables are regularly delivered to the farm by trucks and the animals eat them very quickly.

“Just the day before yesterday a truck arrived from Krasnodar, so the boxes weren’t removed. We have 50 head of piglets, they need to be fed. The vegetables don’t have time to rot,” the man said.

He stated that this place is not a zoo but a farm with natural living conditions.

“We don’t have a zoo here, I don’t charge 1,200 rubles ($13) per person. People pay 200 rubles ($2) to look at the lotus, and they come in here for free,” Sergey said.

*(owned by Meta Inc., whose activities are recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation).