If you are reading these lines, then the new year has already begun. Many of us have made decisions, myself included. After the Christmas madness and the banquet madness, either “healthier eating” or “more exercise” is surely on the list of resolutions for one or the other. At the moment it remains an open question whether this also applies to me. But, of course, not only people make decisions. As an institution, a zoo, we also have a number of things planned for 2023.
I hope we start the new year with a happy birth of a baby elephant, because Farha, the female elephant, doesn’t have to wait long. Let’s see if the zoo’s other heavyweights, our white rhinoceros, will have descendants in 2023. In any case, matings of the Kimba bull with females have been observed. We also hope to have offspring from our new Franco-German breeding pair of koalas this year – as a kind of sign of international understanding. Personally, I’m very excited to know if there will be any offspring in the coming months from our endangered, whorled-tailed Exuma iguanas, our newest residents at Australia Home.
Even without births, there will be changes in the animal population. A prime example, I hope, is the arrival of the giraffe bull, so our Leva savanna is complete. Unbeknownst to many guests, new arrivals will appear in other places – and in return, the views will be abandoned. For our birds, fish and reptiles in particular, we will continue to continually focus on species that are threatened or relevant to our research. So let yourself be surprised by this or that newcomer. In particular, in the case of endangered bird species, we also depend on further structural development. Only in this way can we keep our birds in large free-flying aviaries in a timely manner and in accordance with the species. And so we hope that the appeal against our Pantanal enclosure will be dismissed this year and that we can finally start our next habitat project. And while we’ve already reached the Make-A-Wish section, the zoo also looks forward to security planning for other long-term zoo projects. Key word: our cable car, the application for the construction of which is pending in the administrative court. Fortunately, other construction projects are progressing faster and we look forward to opening our conservation center in April. In addition to a real film showing of our global commitment to conservation, we can equip the roofs and walls of the conservation center with photovoltaic cells as part of a construction project and thus further increase our share of our own electricity generation. Planning is also taking shape for a second lighthouse project after the enclosure in Pantanal, Congo, our new habitat for our gorillas, so we hope to submit a concrete project design this year.
You can see that we have no shortage of good intentions, as this little excerpt from our projects for 2023 shows. Of course, I will keep you updated on the progress at this stage. I wish you all the best, health and, above all, great joy for the fulfillment of your plans, and also for a fresh year in general.