Group of kangaroos get evacuated from Ukraine zoo in back of van

As the Russian invasion into Ukraine wages on, evacuations continue - and heartwarming footage has emerged of a group of kangaroos being moved to a safer place.

The Feldman Ecopark in Kharkiv, where the kangaroos resided, shared in a Facebook post on March 26th a video of a man driving a van with the eight (chilled but perhaps a tad confused) kangaroos standing on a bed of hay, in the back.

During the brief clip, one of the roos popped its head out of the back window while the group were in transit to their new home which is not clear where but the park has said they are now "safe."

In the post, the zoo detailed how the animal enclosures were "repeatedly shelled" and thanked those for risking their lives to save the animals.

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"Rescue of animals from the territory of the Ecopark continues! These kangaroos were taken out the day before yesterday, that is, now they are already safe. This is very nice, because their enclosures, unfortunately, were repeatedly shelled.

"We believe that now they will be fine! Many thanks to volunteers and employees who take risks to save animals, as well as to our many friends - caring people, businesses and NGO's who help us financially and make our rescue operations possible. Your support truly saves lives! Donations can be sent using the details posted on our website: https://feldman-ecopark.com/donation/"

The video clip was also shared on Twitter by the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and wrote: "These kangaroos were evacuated from Feldman Ecopark in #Kharkiv. Their enclosures were repeatedly shelled by Russian Armed Forces. Now the kangaroos are safe."

Of course, people were delighted that the kangaroos were being rescued and praised the driver for evacuating the animals from danger.

As the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv has been severely shelled since the Russian invasion began last month and Feldman Ecopark has shared the remains of shells that were fired at the zoo.

Elsewhere, a truck carrying six lions, six tigers, two caracals and an African wild dog made a two-day drive from a sanctuary in east Kyiv made it to Poland on March 3rd in order to escape the Russian invasion, Reuters reported.

"They had to go a long way around to avoid Zhytomyr and other bombardment zones. They had to turn back many times, because all the roads were blown up, full of holes, impossible to pass with such cargo, which is why it took so long," said Poznan zoo spokesperson Malgorzata Chodyla.

She added three older men with no experience with wild animals helped the driver transport them out of the country.

After resting at Poznan zoo, the animals could travel further west where a Belgium zoo has said it would take in the six lions and African wild dog.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

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