Kiev mayor sacks zoo chief for failing to find mate for elephant

The mayor of Ukraine's capital Kiev 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.

MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - The mayor of Ukraine's capital Kiev 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. (Indian elephants take a dip in Siberian river - Image gallery)

Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky said he sponsored the elephant through Kiev 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 Kiev 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.