The regional programs brought a big step forward because in former times, zoos didn’t need to breed so much. Usually, because animals were expensive, we just kept a pair, especially with, for example, gorillas or rhinos or so. And sometimes even a zoo director considered that a male gorilla looks… Read More
The first difficulty is that moving animals can be difficult. What I already said, that airlines no longer accept animals. The border control can be difficult or it can be forbidden, because of health reasons, to import or export an animal. And it can be very, very far away from… Read More
And we know this, for example, for cheetahs. They need to get the choice which mate they select. And these behavioral aspects are so far largely neglected. It’s mostly the genetic aspects that are considered. And there again, it’s one big danger that inbreeding is thought as being the worst… Read More
When you talk about improvement, can you tell me and talk about exhibit design?… Read More
I think what I forgot to mention about captivity is an animal behind fences looks like a captive animal. It doesn’t feel captive but it looks for the visitor as captive and therefore, we should avoid any fences through which we have to look at animals. And so this is… Read More
Would you explain to me the regional breeding programs for EEP?… Read More
But wild animals are captured in their territories. And if they leave their territories, they have to fight with the neighbors. And therefore, I think we shouldn’t use captivity, neither freedom. But I use, under human care, and, in the wild, in the nature. Read More
Are there any programs or exhibits that you would’ve wanted to have done during your tenure, but just didn’t happen?… Read More
Well, of course, we did the master planning and I couldn’t finish it. I couldn’t even finish the ape facility that I planned. This was opened by my successor. But these were the priorities I have had. The next would’ve been a bear exhibit. My successor opened now a very… Read More
So we keep them on the right social condition. The diet usually is optimal. Very often it’s too good because the keeper is sorry for an animal and gives a little bit more and so, as in humans, many zoo animals are rather too fat. And it’s very difficult to… Read More
Another thing is that views more and more symbolic borders for zoo enclosures. Of course, not for elephants or bears or big cats but Lota Deitrich, the sometimes director of Hanover Zoo, developed dry moats for antelopes. And he made trials. If the moats were more than 1.2 meters, the… Read More
And I, therefore, avoid always captivity and say under human care. And I avoid the term freedom as well. A lot of people think all the animals in the wild, they are free. And especially a golden eagle roaming in the sky, they think it’s wonderful how free this flies… Read More
The word captivity. Unfortunately, Heini Hediger titled his most important book, “Wild Animals in Captivity”. And at least in German, but I think in English it’s not far away. In German, captivity means prison. And there’s a mental difference between a prisoner and a zoo animal. Although, there was one… Read More
He’s deprived from social contacts. Probably the food is not the very best and so on. So that’s a punishment. Our zoo animals are not at all punished. We try to offer them the best social conditions. Of course, we can not keep 100,000 penguins or flamingos. But nowadays, we… Read More
Well, a colleague and friend of me is the director of Frostduck Zoo, employed me as a consultant for a new ape facility, huge ape facility and evolution museum at Arveneum in Sorostin. And I’m still on the board of quite a good Swiss zoo keeping European animals, (speaking in… Read More
You can, frankly, say what you think and in spite of this, almost all the doors of zoos are open and colleagues obviously still enjoy when I visit them. So it’s really a wonderful time. Read More
Can you tell me about what captivity means to a zoo?… Read More
Why should we enter the elephant enclosure?… Read More
Of course, there are not domesticated but tamed elephants in Asia. But this is another very bad chapter. The influence between Europe and Asia in keeping elephants. There are Asian zoos, where elephants are chained maybe 22 hours a day, which is horrible, chained single. And then Europeans say, oh,… Read More
But to what extent do you continue to be active in the zoo field or in the conservation field?… Read More