Zoological – Zoo Director Severin Dressen about the year of animals: an overview of animals

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Today the year is coming to an end, and it has once again turned out to be a busy year for the zoo. A good moment to look back on what has been achieved.

2023 opened the Pantanal Aviary. Despite the fact that construction was then stopped due to an appeal, the first inhabitants of the future enclosure moved to Zurich in January. Since then, a pair of endangered jumping tamarins have lived in the exotarium for now, and they will later move to a new enclosure. Our new environmental center opened in the spring. In a central 360-degree cinema, we take our guests on a journey through our international conservation projects. So many events happened there this year that it would be enough for a separate review.

Here are a few highlights: Our partners in Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan National Park have provided record-breaking evidence of the efforts needed to protect animals in the national park from poaching, establishing a patrol route spanning nearly 60,000 kilometers. At the same time, our partners in Colombia released 29 species of critically endangered Lehmann’s frogs into the wild to support the wild population.

This year the focus has been on our commitment to Madagascar. We celebrated the 20th anniversary of our Masoala Rainforest. Zurich Zoo’s commitment to Madagascar includes reforestation. Thanks to various funds, the zoo was able to build a large number of tree nurseries. They produce more than 50,000 tree seedlings each year, which are used for reforestation in several forest corridors. So it was logical that conservationist Felix Jean Ratelolahi, a Madagascan, received this year’s Conservation Award from Zurich Zoo.

To make an even greater contribution to international conservation in the future, Zurich Zoo has also successfully submitted an application to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). We have been a full member since April. We are strengthening our commitment to protecting species not only internationally, but throughout Europe. From this year we take greater responsibility for creating reserve populations here at Zurich Zoo and in all other scientifically managed zoos in Europe. We currently coordinate European conservation programs (EEP) for Arabian oryx, Cuban pigeons, impalas and red-tailed Amazons.

For many years we have been responsible for the successful breeding of Galapagos giant tortoises. We also successfully breed endangered Ural owls, even without the CES. This summer, three of them were released into the wild in Austria. Another success in bird breeding was even closer. Northern bald ibises are considered extinct in Switzerland. Now, for the first time in 400 years, the pair have bred in Switzerland: just a few hundred meters from Zurich airport on a windowsill in an industrial area. The Alpine population, from which the parent birds descended, has also been replenished in recent years by animals from Zurich Zoo.

And finally, the year ended with triple income. Construction of a new Panther habitat for our big cats, red pandas and insects is progressing well and will be completed in 2025. Together with Panang, the elephant cow returned to us in Zurich as part of the EEA after 28 years of exile. And thanks to the legally binding decision two weeks ago to build the Pantanal Aviary, the next habitat in the 2050 development plan, not only will the aforementioned jumping tamarins soon have a huge enclosure to themselves, but the zoo will also have planned security for its next major construction project .

The zoo team uses the days at the beginning of the year to catch their breath and then begin the new zoo year full of energy and a total commitment to our environment, biodiversity and our guests. Let yourself be surprised.

Source: Blick