Zoological – explains zoo director Severin Dressen: Because there are many of us

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1200 – that’s how many shareholders came to our general meeting at the zoo this week. Even if this is only a small part of our approximately 26,000 shareholders, it was a record turnout. It is an expression of how deeply rooted the Zurich Zoo and other zoos in Switzerland are in society. And this is important. Because the zoo is a place for people. One of our main goals is to inspire people to love nature and at the same time show concrete possibilities for how everyone can support nature conservation. A zoo without people is meaningless. The zoo should always be part of society.

The Zurich Zoo is thus blessed with numerous groups that support the zoo in many different ways and thus make our work possible in the first place. In addition to shareholders, there are, for example, more than 2,200 sponsors who, with their sponsorship contributions, take a symbolic amount to care for a sponsored animal – from a poison dart frog to an elephant. Almost half of our animals, almost 3,000 individuals, have this special support.

Another important group is the Zoo Foundation. The Board of Trustees, with its network of around 200 ambassadors, extends the zoo’s work to wider social circles and provides the zoo with significant fundraising support to further develop its habitats. The Zoofäscht Committee, an association of dedicated citizens of Zurich, organizes on a voluntary basis an impressive charity gala every two years and supports future zoo projects. Commitment spanning over 35 years. After several years of absence from Corona, the next gala concert will take place on 26 August.

Tiergarten-Gesellschaft Zürich (TGZ), which opened the zoo in 1929 as a founding organization, has existed for almost three times as long, since 1925. Even today, TPZ is very important for the zoo with its non-material and financial support. With over 43,000 members, it is one of the largest zoo sponsors associations in Europe.

While all previous groups support the zoo from the outside, the FTZ volunteer team works at the zoo every day. 350 volunteers in green T-shirts support the zoo in every possible way, but first of all they share knowledge. In their information points they are always ready to answer any questions of big and small guests of the zoo.

All these people in various groups ensure the existence of the Zurich Zoo today and ensure that the zoo, as part of society, can continue its important conservation work in the future.

Source: Blick