Azernews.Az

On December 24, a festive celebration for children was held at the Central Botanical Garden at the initiative of Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and founder and head of the IDEA Public Union, Azernews reports.

The event was organized by the Baku City Executive Power for children living in boarding houses. The festive program featured entertainment activities, games and musical performances, while various gifts were distributed to the participants.

As part of the event, Leyla Aliyeva, together with the children, released ten squirrels bred at the Baku Zoological Park into the Central Botanical Garden under the IDEA Public Union’s “urban ecology” project. The initiative aims to protect and restore fauna species traditionally characteristic of urban environments, while also creating conditions for their natural reproduction within the garden.

In the past, squirrels and other animal species were common in Baku, freely inhabiting parks and green areas. However, environmental challenges at the end of the last century led to a sharp decline in their populations. In recent years, large-scale greening and landscaping efforts across the country, particularly those supported by the IDEA Public Union, have reduced illegal logging and resulted in the planting of numerous trees, helping to create favorable conditions for the gradual return of various fauna species to the city.