Case in point: Chichi was found wandering the streets of Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city. It makes sense that she was disoriented: She's a chimpanzee who escaped from the city zoo.
Now, I can understand her, or any other animal's, wanting to bolt from such confinement. Such a desire is particularly understandable when you realize that she'd been transferred to that zoo from Feldman Park, an outdoor preserve on the war's frontlines.
But she is no safer roaming an unfamiliar city in a warzone than any human would be. If anything, she's in more danger, as she doesn't know her way around and doesn't speak Ukranian or Russian.
Oh, and she didn't have an umbrella. And it started to rain.
That's when she spotted, and ran to, one of the zoo's keepers. They embraced. The keeper slung a yellow rain slicker over the animal--and propped her on the seat of a bicycle.
Now Chichi's ride is over and she's back in the zoo. But even though it's more secure than Feldman Park, neither she nor the keeper are out of danger: Several volunteers who helped to evacuate the animals have been killed during Russian attacks.
Whatever happens, I suppose Chichi won't ever forget her bike ride.
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