Russian circus animals cleared at border

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MOSCOW, March 27 (UPI) -- An official with a traveling Russian circus said Sunday his troupe was given the green light by veterinarians to enter Belarus.

The Russian State Circus had been held up at the border between Belarus and Poland this weekend when Belarusian vets refused to allow the show's animals to enter because of problems with their vaccination paperwork.

"We have already spent 24 hours at this checkpoint and I was very anxious about the life of the giraffe, zebras, antelope and the llama," Sergei Nesterov, the deputy general director of the circus, told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Nesterov said the situation had been growing anxious as food and heating fuel for the six animals began to dwindle.

RIA Novosti said a similar paperwork glitch in 2009 resulted in 20 camels being stuck at the Russian-Ukrainian border for two weeks in freezing weather. One of the animals died.