INSIDE A DIMLY LIT ROOM AT POZNAŃ Zoo, Poland, two men pry open a makeshift wooden crate. As the lid pops, a tiger cub springs out, all claws and fangs. It has endured a three-day transit by truck with no food or water, and is starving and stressed.
The cub has not arrived at the zoo alone; various other containers are still in a truck outside. While their occupants await release, staff use tweezers to pass small items of food through roughly drilled breathing holes and between bars.
It’s 3rd March 2022, day seven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Being unboxed before me is an extraordinary menagerie of animals: six tigers, four lions, two caracals, an African wild dog, a capuchin and even a stray cat. All have been rescued from war-torn Kyiv and brought to the safety of Poznań Zoo.
The last individual to be released is Kaja, a 16-year-old circus tigress. She is gently carried into an enclosure and laid on some hay. Blind and declawed, she starts slowly licking and gnawing her paws, quietly vocalising. I feel a heaviness in the pit of my stomach, but that Kaja has even made it to Poznań
