Strasbourg Zoo, Zoo de l'Orangerie de Strasbourg

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History

During the annexation of the Alsace and Moselle region by Germany, Strasbourg had two zoological parks, both run by businessmen. One of them was the private park created in 1889 by restaurant owner M. Bilharz. These zoological parks ceased to exist in 1890.

A few years later, the city built the present zoo in the magnificent Park of the Orangery (Parc de l'Orangerie) which dates back to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. He had a small park created for his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, and a pavilion designed by Le Nôtre, creator of the gardens of Versailles. In this beautiful setting she could wait for her husband to return while he was 'settling a dispute' with the Germans. Remarkably, years later, it were the Germans who had the Park substantially enlarged to a vast 2600 hectares.

The newly created zoological park at the end of the 19th century* immediately gave rise to criticism, because the enclosures were poorly designed, with no flowing water and aviaries that lacked protection against bad weather. The First World War had a devastating effect on the Zoo, and the years following did not allow the municipality to reinstall and properly maintain the Zoo. The City Council was facing several other problems in these post-war years.

Maintenance of the zoo became increasingly expensive and the Council commenced a study in 1920 if the zoo buildings could be exploited in a more rational and less expensive manner. No satisfactory solution was found, and even demolition of the Zoo turned out to be too expensive. So, it was decided the Zoo would be continued. But during this long period of uncertainty the Zoo buildings had further deteriorated due to lack of maintenance. And according to a local newspaper only one goat and a hen and her 14 chicks were left at the grounds in 1928.

In 1929 the Strasbourg Society of Friends of the Zoo was founded as an alliance between the two existing Societies for both the zoo and the aquarium. The alliance envisaged a larger Zoo in grand style, including a vivarium, but this more or less remained a dream and never materialised.

From 1929 to 1946 the City Council covered the maintenance costs of the Zoo, so the Society of Friends of the Zoo was only concerned with the acquisition of animals and improvement of the zoo. Since 1949, the city pays an annual grant to the Friends of the Zoo.

From 1935, the Friends of the Zoo published a monthly newsletter that bore the evocative name 'Le Futur Zoo de Strasbourg' (The Future Zoo of Strasbourg). In the May issue of the first year of publication a pair of lions was mentioned as being part of the animal collection.

The Second World War was another setback for the Zoo, and in March 1940, a few months after the evacuation of the Strasbourg population, the animals were transferred from the Orangery to the Zoo of Vincennes in Paris.

After WWII, from year to year, the zoo experienced its ups and downs, especially regarding the financial situation. In spite of this constant insecure financial situation the small Strasbourg Zoo not only succeeded in satisfying the common visitors, but also people more dedicated to nature conservation. Strasbourg Zoo, for example, became the first breeding centre of white stork in the Alsace and in the 1960s the stork sanctuary was built.

But it was not until 1988 when Mr. Georges Gillot, deputy Mayor of Strasbourg, became president that another expansion occurred. The monkey enclosure was built, paid for by the city of Strasbourg. The Tonkean macaques were donated by the primate centre whose director became president of the Association of Friends of the 'Zoo de l'Orangerie de Strasbourg' in 1996.

All this time the zoo was - and still is - managed by a team of volunteers, who thanks to the support of the City of Strasbourg, the Strasbourg people who want to keep their zoo and various sponsors, made this 'little zoo' to what it is nowadays.

* The current Association of Friends of the 'Zoo de l'Orangerie de Strasbourg' discovered there were no decent archives available to reconstruct an accurate history of the Zoo and its Society of Friends.

(Source: website Zoo de l'Orangerie de Strasbourg; Wikipedia)

Visit(s)

21.08.2014

Strasbourg Zoo is a private non-profit collection with a municipal grant that is kept in three facilities at Le Parc de l'Orangerie, which is situated just across the road from the building of the Council of Europe. There is no official entrance to the zoo as it is a regular part of the park. So, the entrance is free.

Coming from the Council of Europe building you'll approach the nandu enclosure as the first of the three facilities. It is a fenced off area with a dense vegetation containing two specimens of this South American ratite. The grassy ground cover shows some results of pacing behaviour of the nandu close to the fence. This behaviour is undesirable, of course, but the birds seemed at ease in their environment while I was watching.

The main facility of Strasbourg Zoo consists of a T-shaped building with a fancy roof on the top part of the T, flanked by two dome-shaped cylindrical buildings. Outdoor enclosures are built against the house. On one side large enclosures diverge which results in 'half a cake' with the fences creating different sized 'slices', exhibits. Two of these exhibits are open-top enclosures, while all the others have wire-netting canopies. In these two enclosures Cretan wild goats and Barbary sheep are housed on paving stones together with wild stork that nest on the poles that are provided. Several other 'slices of the cake' are turned into mixed-species aviaries. The black stork, Reeves' phaesant and plumed whistling duck (Dendrocygna eytoni) enjoy a dense vegetation in their exhibit while next-door the blue-eared phaesant, cattle egret, Waldrapp ibis and marbled teal have a small pond at their disposal. A much larger aviary houses Chilean flamingo, gadwall (Anas strepera), European pochard, blue-billed pintail, red-breasted goose, ringed teal, European wigeon, Mandarin duck, Caroline wood duck and red-crested duck. This aviary mainly consists of a large pond with a dry bank area around it.

What is most remarkable is that such a small zoological collection is taking part in the black lemur EAZA Ex situ Programme (EEP). Unfortunately, these Madagascan primate species are kept in an outdated type of enclosure, nothing more than a large cage. Besides some natural vegetation, the outdoor enclosure of the two black lemurs contain a very small shed that could well be their indoor enclosure as well. All in all, this doesn't allow the lemurs to display natural behaviour, in my humble opinion.

All exhibits have information panels attached to it that provide useful information from educational point of view. Nevertheless, the panels could use an update, starting with more uniformity as there are many different styles (probably depending on the period in which they were made) and various information provided, though some are quite good actually, including the threatened species status (IUCN) mentioned. As you might expect some of the older panels only provide information in French. And sometimes a species that is on display is not mentioned, for instance the white cockatoo that is kept together with the Senegal parrot (Poicephalus senegalus).

Around the part of the building that houses the black lemur and the previously mentioned white cockatoo you will find some rather plain-looking exhibits with common raves, macaws, parakeets, agapornis, African spurred tortoises, a white-fronted lemur, degu (Octodon degus) and an eagle owl.

The single highlight of Strasbourg Zoo in my opinion is the enclosure of the Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana). It is a modern primate enclosure that can be found in many zoos. It is not a bar-less design according Hagenbeck, but a steel wire construction of about 700 m3 that provides the group of macaques lots of climbing enrichment and objects to enhance their exploratory behaviour. As with most enclosures in the Zoo it is absolutely impossible to have physical contact with the animals due to the wide corridor between the fence to keep the animals in and the fence to keep the public out. A point of criticism could be the fact that the enclosure doesn't have any vegetation whatsoever, and the ground is paved with paving stones.

To finalise the tour around the main building I arrived at the last 'slice of the cake' that I hadn' t seen yet, the one containing the Siberian lynx (Lynx lynx wrangeli). It was shocking to see that the single feline species in the Zoo had a horrible not fit for purpose enclosure. Though the lynx was provided a high level observation post, it was kept on a paving stone floor and was provided with only one large shrub. For additional enrichment some old Christmas trees were thrown in the enclosure that had a wire-netting roof. To stimulate its predator instinct the lynx had a constant view on potential prey in the adjacent enclosure, the Cretan wild goats.

Finally, the third facility focussed on the breeding of white stork (see More info). The stork sanctuary consisted of two large mixed-species aviaries. Although breeding of white stork is less important nowadays, the Zoo has been involved in breeding and reintroduction of white stork since many years. In the early 1980s, the white stork population had fallen to fewer than nine pairs in the entire upper Rhine River valley, while the white stork is the iconic emblem of Alsace, in case you didn't know. The young stork are kept in confined areas, but must be envious at the released 'wild' stork that nest outside the aviaries. The stork are kept in mixed species exhibits with grey-crowned crane (Africa), snow goose (North America) and Bennett' s wallaby (Australia).

The collection of species of Strasbourg Zoo is just a very small sample of what could be of interest for a zoo to have on display nowadays. Nevertheless, there' s a coverage of a broad range of geographical regions and habitats, with a focus on birds. It is understandable that the collection is not grouped accordingly, due to limitations in number of species or specimens, or due to limitations in size of the grounds (number of enclosure). But the Zoo needs to be upgraded, because most of the facilities are outdated and do not meet modern standards.

Gallery

Video

More info

White stork breeding in Alsace

White stork in Alsace

Background

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is the iconic emblem of Alsace. Unlike storks that live in wild natural environments in other parts of the world, the white storks of Alsace have lived among their human protectors for centuries.

Introduction

The white stork's decline due to industrialisation and agricultural changes (principally the draining of wetlands and conversion of meadows to crops such as maize) began in the 19th century. This species, although globally not threatened, declined in Northern, Central and Western Europe mainly from 1850 on, and disappeared subsequently from many parts of its former range. Tthe stork became extinct as a breeding species in Belgium in 1895, in Sweden in 1955, in Switzerland in 1950 and in the Netherlands in 1984. However, the species has since been reintroduced to many regions.

The bird's current status regarding breeding population size is considerably large when compared to the situation in the beginning of the 1980s. A large population of white storks breeds in central (Poland, Ukraine and Germany) and southern Europe (Spain and Turkey), with the highest known density of this species in the world found in Lithuania.

Nevertheless in Western Europe the white stork remains a rare bird despite conservation efforts. In 2004 France had only 973 pairs, and the Netherlands 528 pairs. In the early 1980s, the population had fallen to fewer than nine pairs in the entire upper Rhine River valley, an area closely identified with the white stork for centuries. Conservation efforts successfully increased the population of birds there to 270 pairs (in 2008), largely due to the actions of the Association for the Protection and Reintroduction of Storks in Alsace and Lorraine. The reintroduction of zoo-reared birds has halted further declines in Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™
The white stork has been rated as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 1994, after being evaluated as Near Threatened in 1988. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Parties to the agreement are required to engage in a wide range of conservation strategies described in a detailed action plan. The plan is intended to address key issues such as species and habitat conservation, management of human activities, research, education, and implementation. Threats include the continued loss of wetlands, collisions with overhead power lines, use of persistent pesticides (such as DDT) to combat locusts in Africa, and largely illegal hunting on migration routes and wintering grounds.

Zoo de l'Orangerie

At Strasbourg the breeding of white stork started when a few storks that were victim of an accident were presented to the Zoo. Being aware of the dire situation of the species a breeding committee was established, with one of the members being an experienced ornithologist and a connoisseur of stork. He had studied the behaviour in the wild and in captivity, and above all, he could distinguish males from females, which is a difficult task. So Bernard Schmitt was appointed head of breeding pair formation, monitoring nests and recording storks.

The breeding project was developed and implemented with little financial means as no grant had been given to the Zoo. Nevertheless the project was successfully accomplished, thanks to the dedicated Zoo staff and a few members of the Friends of the Zoo association who were involved. They started with using an artificial incubator in the garage of one of the members (Lucien Gangloff) with the eggs that were collected from a breeding pair of storks. Due to lack of suitable premises the same garage was used to further develop the breeding technique, as well as diet composition, the method of feeding, the number of meals per day, and disease treatment.

In Strasbourg Zoo more than 800 storks were born and raised in 15 years. Some were released or went into breeding pens, but others have found home in different zoos in France, Belgium and Germany, and even in Detroit Zoo in the US.

Unfortunately, many storks that were released in the wild were killed during their seasonal migration. In the 1970s and '80s, vast numbers of them died on the annual migration to Africa. They smashed into power lines. African droughts depleted their winter food supplies. And in African nations at war, starving residents ate them. By the early '80s, 10 percent of the migratory storks were returning to Alsace each spring.

The Swiss - who used initally populated their first white stork reintroduction centre with a few stroks from the Alsace - had the same experience with their stork breeding and release programme. So, how to keep the stork alive that were bred by the Zoo? Strasbourg Zoo already used the Swiss experience regarding breeding techniques, but to increase the wild population the loss during the seasonal migration had to be prevented. And for that it was decided that migration after release had to be prevented.

In 1983, a stork reintroduction programme was launched in France. Stork can survive a maximum of 4 weeks of fasting in cold weather, but they absolutely need to be provided supplementary feed during snowy and frosty weather. So the method that was used to block the stork's urge to migrate in the autumn comprised two techniques. It was therefore decided that birds that were born in captivity would be kept in confinement for three years to rid them of the instinct to migrate, while supplementary feed would be offered for those to be released and reintroduced in to the wild.

Still one problem remained in Strasbourg Zoo, the lack of nesting facilities. The first idea that was trialled was to install a platform and provide a bundle of branches for building a nest on the disused chimney of the house at the Zoo. This was a success, as the first stork that was given the opportunity immediately accepted this spot to build its nest. An historic nest because it was the first in Strasbourg after a very long time. More storks then made their nest in the 'jardin de l'Orangerie' but this time in the weeping willow trees and the pruned trees, but still the immediate surrounding of the breeding centre lacked nesting locations. To solve this, poles were developed with three platforms at different levels, which are still in use today. Currently about twenty nests can be found in the park.

The successes of Strasbourg Zoo paved the way for the creation of l'APRECIAL (Association pour la Protection et la RÉintroduction des CIgognes en Alsace Lorraine - Association for the protection and reintroduction of storks in Alsace and Lorraine).

Since about 2000 the breeding is not so intensive anymore because the number of white storks has significantly increased. In 2000 261 nests were recorded. Today, about half of the Alsatian white stork population migrates. Only about half of those make it to the traditional wintering grounds in Africa. The rest stops in Spain, where open dumpsters provide easy meals. So, storks of the western Europe population began to colonize the area where they stopped and they settled in places where they had never nested before, particularly along the Atlantic coast.

(Source: website de l'association des amis du Zoo de l'Orangerie; Washington Post, 22.06.2008; WAZA white stork conservation project; Wikipedia)

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07 September 2014 0 minutes read

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