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This article was published 04/05/2022 (402 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Saturday at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, there will be blue and yellow toys in the animal enclosures and Ukrainian sausage and perogies at the restaurants.

It’s all a part of a “Day of Solidarity with Ukraine” fundraiser; on May 7, 30 per cent of each ticket and any other sales will go to war relief efforts in the Eastern European country.

“I think like a lot of people within our park and zoo family here, we’re all impacted by what we’re witnessing unfolding in Ukraine,” Assiniboine Park Conservancy communications manager Laura Cabak said Wednesday.

“Just like a lot of people in Manitoba, many of us have Ukrainian roots in our families, and I think there was a desire to do something to help.”

The donations will be split between the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, an organization the Assiniboine Zoo has connected with in the past, Cabak said.

“We were aware of how zoos in Ukraine were also being impacted by this and, ultimately, we just looked at is there an opportunity for us to give back to support both our colleagues at the zoos in Ukraine and the humanitarian relief efforts,” she said.

Visitors will be offered lapel ribbons as a symbol of solidarity with Ukraine and the Park Café and Tundra Grill will have perogies and sausage on the menu. Some enrichment items — food, toys or other items introduced to habitats to stimulate the animals living there — will also match the theme.

“I would go out on a limb and say that the wonderful weather and the forecast for this weekend, for Saturday, may be just as much influence as anything, so it could turn out to be a really great day at the park and zoo which is wonderful,” Cabak said. “Had we planned this day for two weeks ago, on one of those Colorado low weekends, it would have been a very different story.”

In September, the zoo raised funds over one day for several Indigenous-led organizations on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca