Numerous deaths of animals in the Kiev Zoo raised strong concern from the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and forced it to create a special commission to investigate the case.

A female gaur buffalo, a bison, an Amur tiger, an Asian black bear, a zebra, an armadillo and 13 large birds have died since January 2010 and an endangered Mongolian wild horse, a Przewalski horse, vanished.

On April 26, the Kiev Zoo's symbol, an elephant by the name of Boy died. Local media reported that the animal was allegedly poisoned.

"The commission will examine in detail the zoo's collection, and the living conditions for the animals...Additional investigations will be held if necessary," a statement issued by the Environmental Protection Ministry on Monday said.

Experts say the zoo is in a miserable state, but the zoo's management does not see any fault in the bad treatment of the animals and say all the cases of death are the work of provocateurs who want to damage the zoo's image.

MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti)