‘Schindler for the animals’: How a Jewish oligarch rescued 5,000 zoo animals from the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war

Dec 18, 2025

Joshua Zeman, a documentary filmmaker known for his gripping true-crime stories, shares the harrowing tale behind his film, "Checkpoint Zoo." He details the rescue of nearly 5,000 zoo animals from Feldman EcoPark in war-torn Ukraine, led by a compassionate Jewish oligarch, Oleksandr Feldman. Zeman explores the bravery of volunteers who risked their lives to save these creatures amidst bombings and chaos. He also discusses the complex relationship between art and politics during wartime, making a poignant case for preserving humanity in crisis.

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ANECDOTE

How The Film Began

Joshua Zeman traced the film to a viral New York Times clip of a chimp named Chi-Chi walking through Kharkiv and making people smile.
He contacted Feldman Eco Park, received volunteer footage, and flew to Ukraine a month later to film the rescue effort.

ANECDOTE

Chi-Chi Moment That Sparked The Film

Zeman recounts Chi-Chi the chimp walking alone in Kharkiv's Freedom Square and making bombed civilians smile.
That moment convinced him animals can break people out of despair and motivated the project.

INSIGHT

Jewish Identity Shapes The Story

Feldman's Jewish practice and public identity are woven throughout the film, making it resonate at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
Zeman notes Feldman's davening, kippah, and role fighting anti-Semitism as part of his characterization.

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Over the past two years, many filmmakers have hesitated or refrained from bringing their films to Israeli film festivals as part of cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war.

But for Joshua Zeman, the decision to bring his powerful new documentary “Checkpoint Zoo” to the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival was “merely part and parcel of the whole experience of making a film about something that's been politicized that shouldn’t be politicized.”

Zeman’s film tells the dramatic story of the 2022 rescue of nearly 5,000 animals from the Feldman Ecopark zoo in Ukraine located on the Russian border outside the city of Kharkiv – on the front lines of the war – lovingly built and maintained by an animal-loving Orthodox Jewish oligarch, Oleksandr Feldman.

“There has been a lot of backlash against Ukraine here in the States, even though the film is just about people rescuing animals, so the film was already complicated for me in terms of getting distribution,” Zeman said on the Haaretz Podcast.

“Checkpoint Zoo” chronicles the efforts of Feldman, a handful of zoo workers who did not flee Kharkiv during the war and four idealistic volunteers as they risked their lives under fire from drones and bombs to remove lions, tigers, monkeys, ostriches and other animals out of from harm’s way in a modern-day Noah’s Ark.

“War by definition is brutality created to strip away your humanity. But in rescuing these animals, these volunteers not only refound their humanity, but found this unbelievable well of courage.”

Zeman sees Feldman – who allowed his luxurious mansion to be taken over by the rescued animals – as “a Schindler-esque character.”

After Feldman’s businesses in Kharkiv were destroyed by the war, he was forced to “basically sell everything to care for these animals,” Zeman recounted. “Whenever we talked about the animals, he immediately cried. He's a big crier – he is a fascinating character who espouses a lot of values from the Torah.”

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