Salzburg Zoo

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History

The Zoo in Salzburg, affectionately called Salzburger Tiergarten by the Salzburger citizens, looks back on a long history. The origin of Salzburg Zoo goes back to 1424 when a game park was established by the Archbishop of Salzburg. This archiepiscopal wildlife park comprised fish farms and flocks of birds.

In 1612 Prince-bishop Markus Sittikus began planning Hellbrunn Palace including its parks. The deer park ('Hirschgarten') subsequently laid the foundation for Zoo Hellbrunn (renamed several times and currently called Zoo Salzburg). However, it took seven years to complete the deer park as such and, in 1619, according the preserved archives red deer, fallow deer, Alpine ibex, tortoises, pheasants, cranes, eagles, bears, wolves and lynx were kept, as well as beavers.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the interest in the deer park (Zoo) plummeted significantly and so it happened that the rare animals such as golden pheasant and white deer were transferred to the menagerie in the park of Schönbrunn palace in Vienna, in 1807.

After WWII in 1960, a number of leading Salzburg personalities that were animal lovers founded the association "Friends of the Salzburger Tiergarten Hellbrunn". This club also made a strong case for a revival of the Zoo in Hellbrunn and in 1961 the gates of Bergweltzoo Salzburg were reopened to visitors. The Zoo focussed on animal species from mountainous regions such as bighorn and mane sheep, mouflon, mountain goat, alpaca, lama, yak, Andean beer, black bear, marmots and vultures. Nonetheless various other species were on display.

The first director and co-founder, Heinrich Windischbauer, developed the small zoological garden into a considerable enterprise with over 150 species. He introduced naturalistic enclosures that merged with the landscape and the rocky backdrop, many of them built against the rock face that borders the zoo grounds. The type of enclosures for which Salzburg Zoo is still known for, as well as for the free-flying griffon vultures. To contribute to the conservation efforts to save griffon vultures from going extinct Windischbauer founded a griffon vulture colony in1966, which still exists today. So, the griffon vultures of Salzburg Zoo fly free since 1966 and breed in the surrounding mountains. Their favourite places are the rock crevices in these mountains. As food is provided in the Zoo for the vultures you might see them end up at their feeding site in the Zoo or on the visitor footpaths when they are hungry, especially in winter. As pure scavengers, they pose no danger to humans.

Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus).
Image: Pierre Dalous - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Despite these successful endeavours the Zoo was again close to closure in 1972. Fortunately, in 1976, the city and state of Salzburg took a partnership and financially invested in the Zoo. As a result, a decent sewage system could be constructed, while many old enclosures were renovated. Moreover several new enclosures were built, among them a new big cats enclosure, a bear exhibit, a wisent house and a new gibbon exhibit, besides a new farm building and a storage shed. Friedrich Lacchini, who was director at the time, also made education a priority.

Until 1990 the grouping of the animal collection was done haphazardly, but when Lacchini handed over the zoo to his successor, Rainer Revers, the principle of the Geo-Zoo was introduced. Hence, with reference to the species' geographical and habitat origin, three geographical zones were introduced - Eurasia, South America and Africa. At the same time increased attention was paid to the quality of the living space of the Zoo's animals, including implementation of enrichment programmes. This led to a reduction of the number of species, together with the creation of mixed-species exhibits. As of the 1990s continuous improvement of the indoor as well as the outdoor enclosures took place. For instance, a walk-through tropical house was built (1998); the South America section redesigned with enclosures for alpaca, rhea, mara and maned wolf (2006); the South America House for inter alia small primates (2007); the Lion House with enclosures for African species such as lion, elephant shrew, Diana monkey, and red river hog (2010); a new large exhibit for Alpine ibex, and a new cheetah enclosure (2012); a new modern jaguar pavilion (2013); and a new gibbon pavilion with outdoor enclosure (2015).

Although Salzburg Zoo is a relatively small zoo, it is involved in quite a few national and international conservation efforts, including research programmes. Nationally, the Zoo makes an effort to improve the gene constitution of Alpine ibex in the wild. International recognition has been achieved especially with the Zoo's contribution to the conservation of white rhinoceroses. Since 1991, white rhinos are on display in Salzburg and the Zoo's specimens take part in the EEP for these magnificent pachyderms. Although they had some fruitless years breeding the species themselves, they were finally successful using artificial insemination. In April and September 2015 two healthy rhino calves were born. Another highlight is the first successful breeding of wolverines outside Scandinavia in 1999. Other conservation/research contribution comprise research on progressive hindlimb paralysis and stress-caused disease in free-ranging cheetah; flight biology of griffon vulture; population management and long-distance immobilization in chamois; and reintroduction in the wild of Przewalski horse. For the latter the Zoo established and maintains a research station in the Tachintal, Gobi, Mongolia.

As you might expect from an EAZA and WAZA member the Zoo developed various education programmes over the years to inform the visitors about biodiversity, behaviour, biology, conservation and the relevance of safeguarding ecosystems. Respect for animals is core business, and they hope to achieve this by providing children close encounters in the petting zoo, which was established in 2008. Remarkable, however, in Salzburg Zoo is the fact that the animals have the opportunity to retreat into an area off limits to visitors.

In 2003, the original "Friends of the Salzburger Tiergarten Hellbrunn" association was transformed into the Zoo Salzburg non-profit GmbH. Shareholders are the city and state Salzburg in equal parts. In the same year, the Förderverein Zoo Salzburg was founded to financially support and boost the work of the Zoo.

(Source: Salzburg zoo website; Berchtesgaden info site; Salzburg wiki; Encyclopedia of the World's Zoos, ed. Catharine E. Bell, 2001)

Visit(s)

05.06.2017

Author: Karol Mišovic

Zoo Salzburg is located a couple of kilometres from the city centre in a picturesque landscape with great views of the Alpine mountain tops adding to the magical Austrian atmosphere. The zoo is also in close vicinity to the castle park of Hellbrunn, and the style of the enclosures almost suggests that the zoo is part of the castle area. Hellbrunn is also relatively small - only fourteen hectares.

The size, however, is its massive disadvantage as it is adjacent to a rock face that creates a natural wall to almost two-thirds of the whole area of the zoo. An artificial fence encloses the other side of the area. Most of the Zoo grounds is quite narrow, and we could say that the visitors' track is almost like a lasso with a halter at the end. The rock face seems grandiose but creates a natural borderline for the enclosures of brown bears, Alpine ibexes, Alpine chamois, big cats and alpacas, while the visitors may feel a little enclosed. The path is only one way, and the visitor has to follow the suggested direction, there is no other option. That creates problems especially during weekends and holidays as the zoo is extremely crowded during those days. While the visitors can feel claustrophobic, the opposite applies to animals. Fortunately, the zoo does not economise on the space for the animals despite the discomfort of the visitors.

Style unity of the whole area is a significant advantage, but it is not unique to Austrian zoos and is also typical in zoos like Vienna, Innsbruck, Stadt Haag and Herberstein. There is no stylistic eclecticism in designing each enclosure with different material or colour. The zoo respects the natural surroundings, and at the same time, it is intended to be a logical continuation of the castle park using a similar style with yellowish and natural colours. The whole area has been cared for by a creative and unobtrusive gardener who managed to unite the style of the enclosures with the areas for the visitors. Water-filled moats can be found at the gibbon islands and the mixed-species exhibit for lowland tapir, capybara and brown capuchin, as well as with the brown bear and cheetah enclosures. Furthermore, metal fences are used at most cat exhibits, while the hoofed animals are enclosed by wooden fences or dry moats. Nevertheless, everything remains in harmony.

As I have already mentioned, many of the enclosures are delimited at one side by the rock face. At the entrance of the zoo, the enclosure of Alpine ibex seem to be situated in an adequate natural environment. Similarly, Alpine chamois enjoy their natural surroundings but can be sometimes hard to spot in the abundant greenery of their natural biotope. A large-scale area for Alpine chamois is cleverly separated from the visitors with a pool for Eurasian otters. The artificial rocks and even the cave designed for otters seem almost natural, and you can also have a look inside of the cave. The enclosures for wolverines and brown bears are unpretentious, naturalistic and virtually barrier-free. The enclosures for the European fauna can be characterised by two simple words: authenticity and naturalistic.

A series of three other enclosures for big cats are located centrally on the Zoo grounds. The jaguars, cougars and snow leopards have large enclosures at their disposal. Although the steep rock face limits the viewing options, on one side the visitors can observe the animals through the glass and high fences which are placed non-intrusively in the environment and allow the visitors to have a great view of the animals. The enclosures of the big cats and the neighbouring one for maned wolf are located on a mild downslope with natural vegetation which provides lots of opportunities for the animals to hide. They have enough space to run around as well as seek shelter under natural or artificial hiding spots. Indoor viewing is only possible inside the Jaguars' pavilion. Similar to other buildings in the Zoo, this pavilion seems modest in size from the outside and might even feel overcrowded at times, but the animals have enough space even inside the pavilion. The indoor areas for the jaguars are notable for the murals depicting South American jungle in a meticulous perspective painting. If you are lucky and happen to see the jaguars inside the pavilion, you are prone to a suggestive feeling of seeing the animals in their natural habitat with the view of Maya palaces peeking out of bushes and trees of the rainforest. South Asian jungle impression decorates the new Gibbon House built in 2015.

Despite the restrictions of the grounds available Salzburg Zoo divided the area according geographical regions, segmented into Eurasia, South America and Africa - a GeoZoo as they call it themselves. Of course, the concept is not perfect as snow leopards are located in the area of South America, Parma wallabies are housed on the border of South America and Africa and until recently Bactrian camels, and Przewalski's horses were found in the African area. Since 2017 their enclosure is replaced by an African village with Watusi and other domesticated African species.

The diversity of the biotope is not so apparent as in larger zoos such as in Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Brugelette (Pairi Daiza Zoo), Leipzig or Zlín. Less attentive visitors might not even notice the changes. However, this is not meant as a reprehension. Salzburg maintains the minimalist rules - less is more. More apparent differences of the biotope could be contra-productive and might disrupt the otherwise gently composed space of the Zoo. There are no opulent elements that dominate by trying to realistically imitate the environment of specific continents or exaggerated buildings as in many other zoos. The jaguar pavilion, tropical pavilion (cotton-top tamarin, green iguana), gibbon pavilion (white-handed gibbon, South American coati and Linne's two-toed sloths) and American pavilion (brown capuchin, Bolivian squirrel monkey, three-banded armadillo and others) are quite modest structures built with respect for the typical architecture of the original provenance, hence, their goal is not to impress with pomp. They are constructed as functional and comfortable spaces for both animals and visitors.

The most massive pavilion is the Lion House located in the largest area of the Zoo - the Africa section. The architects paid attention to each centimetre in the rest of the Zoo where the route of the visit was one way only. The Africa section, however, situated within an enormous roundabout farthest from the main entrance, provides enough space for animals and visitors alike. Thanks to its location in a forest the visitors can enjoy a delightful shade and may observe the animals in their vast enclosures. The Bird Park is the largest enclosure in this area - ample greenery with a network of ponds and streams for African bird species (pelicans, white storks, several species of cranes and others) and sitatunga. The nearby enclosure of cheetah also gives an impression of an unnoted and natural habitat that is separated from the visitors only by a water-filled moat. This enclosure leads towards the earlier mentioned Lion House. Except for the lions, the enclosure houses some African reptiles, rodents, red river hogs and Diana monkeys. While the entrance to the pavilion offers a view of two lions, the exit accommodates a joint enclosure for red river hogs and Diana monkeys. The enclosures are not visible in their entirety as the view for the visitors is obstructed by the structure of the pavilion. A much better view of the enclosures is from the roof of the pavilion that serves as the viewing area for the visitors. On one side you can observe lions which themselves are overlooking Diana monkeys and red river hogs, and on the other side you can see three vast grasslands for African hoofed animals - Grévy's zebras, sable antelopes, Lechwe waterbucks and the most abundantly bred animals in Salzburg Zoo - white rhinoceroses (in 2015 two calves were born). The view from the roof of the lion pavilion on the enclosure of the hoofed animals provides an amazing contrast - African antelopes in beautiful green meadows with a backdrop of Alpine mountains with snow-covered tops. It is an incredible view.

Salzburg Zoo is one of the less outspoken European zoos that will not impress the visitors with its pompous decoration or rare species, but its taste and aesthetics of the enclosures, the natural scenery and expressed modesty combined with Austrian pedantry are indeed remarkable.