Welcome

City Coun­cil of Emmen in the Nether­lands gave con­sent yes­ter­day to build a brand new Zoo­log­i­cal Park. That this pos­i­tive deci­sion has been made on 4^th Octo­ber, being World Ani­mal Day, is an absolute coin­ci­dence! And it is won­der­ful news after the announce­ment of the ‘not so good’ finan­cial sit­u­a­tion last year October.

The new Zoo will be part of a huge refur­bish­ment project in the cen­tre of Emmen, with the Zoo being relo­cated on the rim of the city cen­tre. The Council’s deci­sion is one of sev­eral still to make before con­struc­tion can start. Though a design and Mas­ter Plan for the new Zoo is ready, a pos­i­tive deci­sion of Provin­cial Coun­cil is awaited before pro­cure­ment can start. The new Zoo will con­sists of five dif­fer­ent ‘the­matic worlds of expe­ri­ence’, includ­ing the city the­atre, wait­ing to be explored by the vis­i­tor. Nev­er­the­less City Coun­cil pro­vides only 17 mil­lion Euros of the 42 mil­lion that is required. The lack­ing 25 mil­lion Euros, vital for the plan to kick off, must come from exter­nal financiers. Let’s hope Zoo Man­age­ment suc­ceeds in con­vinc­ing finan­cial part­ners to invest in this ambi­tious Mas­ter Plan.

(Sources: NRC, 04.10.2011; Emmen Zoo web­site, 04.10.2011)