The mayor of Ukraine`s capital Kyiv said he sacked the head of the city`s zoo after he failed to find a "wife" for a male elephant, Ukrainian media reported on Thursday, RIA Novosti reported.
Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky said he sponsored the elephant through Kyiv zoo`s sponsorship program, 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 Kyiv 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.
Besides, according to the Mayor, they plan to sell matryoshkas in the zoo. "They have already thought out matryoshkas: with Yushchenko, and with beautiful woman Yulia Volodymirivna".
According to L.Chernovetskiy, all these plans will help attract money to the zoo.
UNIAN, RIA Novosti
