Oleg Zubkov wasn’t injured in ‘lion attack,’ says Taigan Safari Park’s official explanation

In the wake of few British and Ukrainian, several Russian and at least one American media reports saying that Crimean wildlife park founder Oleg Zubkov was mauled by a lion, an official statement from his team has provided a clear, detailed account — correcting the narrative and emphasizing that no deliberate lion attack took place.

Zubkov, a businessman, is the founder and managing director of the Taigan Safari Park, located in Belogorsk, Crimea. The park is known (to mostly Europeans, apparently not to many Americans, in the West) for its open enclosures and free-roaming lions.

The Taigan Safari Park’s introductory, two-minute-long video shared below from Zubkov’s own, but old (last video was uploaded over a year ago), apparently English speakers-targeting (several videos have hardcoded English subtitles) YouTube channel shows the park’s open enclosures and some free-roaming lions and contains a musical excerpt from eight-minute-and-52-second-long “Journey To The Island” containing the “Theme from Jurassic Park” (we couldn’t confirm if the use of the music was permitted by the copyright owners, possibly Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment).

The following three-year-old, eight-minute-and-one-second-long video from Zubkov’s other, more popular and regularly updated YouTube channel shows him with free-roaming lions and lionesses inside a big, open enclosure of the Taigan Safari Park (in the Settings, auto-generated English translation of what is said in the Russian-language video can be enabled in “Subtitles/CC” section to get some idea of what is being said {auto-translation quality is not top notch}):

Taigan Safari Park breeds other large predator mammals as well as lions. The park’s website states that there are about 60 African lions living freely in an area of over 30 hectares (over 74 acres). In addition to lions, there are many tigers and other wild animals being kept in the park, as can be learned from the videos on Zubkov’s regularly updated YouTube channel.

Zubkov’s work, also including offering banned-since-April-2019 close interaction experiences with large predators, has long captivated public attention — often courting controversy as well.

The following three-year-old, one-minute-and-two-second-long video from Zubkov’s old channel shows his style of working with the lions, with him appearing to provoke a lioness, who even angrily charges at him, in the presence of most probably a group of the park’s banned-since-2019 ‘Walk with the Lions’ experience buyers, who keep on recording videos on their smartphones only some steps away:

The following also-three-year-old, 42-second video shows Zubkov dispersing four big fighting lions with a slipper:

In 2018, a lion reportedly mauled a woman as she took part in the “Walk with the Lions.” A couple months later, a two-year-old lion crawled into a safari vehicle, cuddling the tourists and licking a woman on the face.

We can’t confirm if the following is the video of the tourist cuddling incident, but the three-year-old video also shows a young lion getting on a vehicle full of tourists and ‘cuddling’ them:

Among other controversies involving the park and Zubkov’s work are a September 2021 incident, which saw a tiger biting off the finger of a one-year-old boy, with Zubkov receiving a prison sentence of two years and three months, but serving only three months before being paroled; a November 2022 story that said Zubkov stole several animals from the Kherson Zoo and transported them to Taigan as Russia was withdrawing from Kherson; and an October 2024 incident, which saw a lady park employee getting mauled to death by a lion.

This, June 2025 ‘lion attack’ incident involving Zubkov himself occurred during a routine evening feeding session inside the park’s “savannah” enclosure, where lions roam in a semi-wild habitat. According to Zubkov’s team, the injury was not the result of an aggressive animal encounter, but rather a brief and unintended physical contact between Zubkov and a young lion that had been startled by a sudden noise.

The following three-year-old video shows Zubkov feeding adult lions and lionesses i.e. throwing pieces of raw meat at them, inside enclosure:

The following two-year-old video shows Zubkov feeding the lions, who growl when he throws big pieces of meat at them (when you click/tap on the play icon/button, the eight-minute-and-33-seconds video will start at the 7:01 mark from where lions can be heard growling when Zubkov throws big pieces of meat towards them):

According to an English translation of the transcript of the official Russian-language video statement about generally perceived ‘lion attack,’ the explanation reads:

“Hello friends. I think everyone already knows what happened from the media. I want to explain how it really was—this is the official statement.

Oleg Alekseevich is currently in Simashko Hospital in the city of Simferopol. He was transported there by air ambulance. He underwent surgery yesterday. This morning, he regained consciousness. He’s doing well—his arms and legs are intact.”

Editor’s Note: Oleg Zubkov is also called “Oleg Alekseevich” by family and park staff. “Alekseevich” is a patronymic in the Russian language. In English, it means “son of Alexei” or “son of Alex.” A patronymic is a name or part of a name derived from the given name of a father or other male ancestor, often indicating descent through the addition of a prefix or suffix, such as “-son” in English surnames. For example, “MacDonald” means “son of Donald.”

The English translation of the Russian-language video’s transcript continues to read, “Right now, he’s still speaking very weakly after the operation, but he’s already writing and even giving orders.

Here’s what actually happened, so there are no rumors: yesterday evening, we went to the Savannah area to feed the lions, as usual. Oleg Alekseevich and I were together. We fed the lions—we entered the savannah twice, fed all of them, and were already leaving the enclosure.”

The video statement dismissing the ‘lion attack’ goes on to say, “At the exit, Oleg Alekseevich was collecting some trash. He stepped a couple of paces away from the vehicle. One young lion was lying under a bush nearby, eating. Then, the sound of a car door slamming shut startled it.

Oleg Alekseevich was closing the car door, and the sound came out sharp. The lion reacted by jumping up and running. Oleg Alekseevich happened to be in its path. The lion did not attack him on purpose, didn’t maul or pursue him. It just grabbed him once while running past.”

“Even afterward, Oleg Alekseevich was conscious and was holding the lion’s jaws apart by its hooks. Then the lion calmly let go of him and ran off. We immediately called for emergency help.

So the kind of injuries being talked about in the media are not accurate. After the surgery, Oleg is mostly resting, but he’s conscious and already writing instructions — he even wrote me a note about what to check in the park. The park is functioning normally.”

The statement ends by saying, per the English translation, “Oksana Olegovna is temporarily taking charge for the next few days while Oleg recovers. A CT scan was done, and later they’ll do an MRI to confirm everything is okay. The air ambulance is on standby in case he needs to be transported to Moscow.

Please, friends, follow only our official channels and trust official updates. You understand that there will now be a flood of rumors and hype. But Oleg Alekseevich is doing well. He can’t speak for himself just yet, but he understands everything.”

Watch the official statement video below (in the Settings, auto-generated English translation of all that is said in the video can be enabled in “Subtitles/CC” section; the English translation shared above inside quotes is more accurate though):

The full translated statement recounts that while Zubkov was feeding the lions, a loud car door slam startled a nearby young lion who was eating under a bush. The lion leapt up and ran — not in aggression, but in reaction to the noise — and Zubkov happened to be in its path. He was briefly grabbed in the confusion, but remained conscious and alert throughout. He even managed to hold the lion’s jaws apart before it released him and ran off.

The statement emphasizes that this was not a deliberate lion attack, and urges the public to disregard speculation and rumors circulating in the media. Zubkov has since undergone surgery and is recovering well in hospital, already writing instructions and overseeing park operations through his team. The park continues to function in normal working mode.

The statement also encourages supporters to follow only official channels for updates, noting that while Zubkov cannot yet speak following surgery, he is fully aware and communicative in writing.

Featured photo shows some lions roaming in the Taigan Safari Park. Image Attribution: Andrey Velichko. Source: wikimapia. License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)