Stadt Haag Zoo, Tierpark Stadt Haag

History

The initiative to found Stadt Haag Zoo in the park of Salaberg Castle was taken by Mayor Ernst Huber. Although being the city's mayor, Huber believed it was important he should be making the decisions guiding the future of the Zoo, and City Council has been involved in the Zoo's management ever since.

Until 1970 the castle of Salaberg and its castle park were not open to the public. In 1970, the municipality of Stadt Haag and the owner of the Salaberg properties, Dr. Hermann Saurma-Jeltsch, agreed on a lease of the castle park grounds. Roads and ponds were created in the natural park which was set up as a wildlife park for indigenous species, and on 14 April 1973 the Tierpark opened its gates to the public. Due to an unfortunate outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Lower Austria measures were taken to control further spread of this contagious livestock virus, including closure of the Tierpark about a month after the opening, on 12 May 1973. Two months later they could reopen the Zoo.

Right from the onset a bear enclosure and a farmyard were established. To make the Zoo even more attractive to the local public the large pond was available to anglers. And it is still possible, for a fee, to catch your evening meal in the pond to date. As the interest of the visitors grew broader, exotic animals were added to the animal collection, and in the years to follow the number of animals and the variety of species gradually increased, mainly by animal purchases.

So, since the 1990s new buildings appeared and enclosures expanded. The facilities are constantly being updated and adapted not only due to the arrival of new species but especially due to new animal welfare regulations based on the European Union Zoos Directive. For example, since the year 1997, the cat enclosures, the owl aviary, the baboon enclosure and many more have been renewed, while in 2004 the North-Chinese leopards got a brand new enclosure. But a new entrance area was created as well during this period, including a giftshop, gastronomic service and a children's playground. Unfortunately, in 2008, refurbishment of exhibits was also necessary when hurricane 'Emma' swept over the city and the Zoo grounds with wind speeds of over 150 km/hr and caused great damage to the fences and buildings.

As animal welfare requirements change constantly due to new insight and knowledge, improvement of the Barbary macaque enclosure was necessary, so, it was enlarged and optimised in 2010. The lynx were able to move to their new home in 2011, further enlargement was realised of the leopard area in 2012, and the new African lion exhibit with an indoor pavilion and a viewing deck was opened in 2013 as part of the 40th anniversary of the Zoo.

Nature, especially species, conservation activities are part of any well-respected modern zoo's portfolio. Hence, Tierpark Stadt Haag is involved in several protection programmes for endangered species. In the 1990s, the jackdaws in Lower Austria were placed on the list of endangered bird species. Birdlife Austria started a scientifically managed animal protection programme and as of 1999 a collaboration was established between Stadt Haag Zoo and BirdLife Austria. The Salaberg Castle and the magnificent old trees in the animal park offer a natural breeding grounds for the jackdaws. About 30 nest boxes were built, assembled and maintained for the jackdaws. By 2005, more than 30 breeding pairs were living at the zoo. The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Animal Behaviour Research in Grünau in the Alm Valley received a few young animals each year for research purposes and for the settlement of a jackdaw population in the alpine valley. A few years later the collaboration with birdlife was discontinued. However, Stadt Haag Zoo was involved in other breeding programmes as well. Together with Hamburg Zoo an effort was made to breed Chapman's zebra in captivity. In 2004, the Zoo received the 1-year-old Chapman-zebra couple Kiri and Hatara, which successfully reproduced. Since then, several of their offspring live in other zoological facilities. Furthermore, the Zoo's two North-Chinese leopards take part in the EAZA Ex situ Programme (EEP) for this species that is coordinated by Hamburg Zoo.

Education is regarded as one the Zoo's most important goals, especially environmental education of the visitors. This had started with the birds' voice path, laid out in the 1980s, where 15 indigenous bird species and their traits, including their song, are introduced to the visitor along an avenue.

For entertainment, besides watching the indigenous and exotic animals, there are two main playgrounds to keep children occupied, one of them being the adventure playground 'Erlebniswelt', a children's paradise they say.

On July 1st, 2016, the Haag Tourismus GmbH was founded in which the zoo was integrated.

(Source: website Tierpark Stadt Haag)

Visit(s)

12.05.2018

Author: Karol Mišovic

Although most of the Austrian zoos have insufficient area available, this is not the situation in Tierpark Stadt Haag, situated near Salaberg Castle . Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck have to be very resourceful in designing the layout of their zoos. Tierpark Stadt Haag, however, spreads on thirty-three hectares of dispersed wooded landscape including several aquatic zones. These areas offer proper conditions for breeding of most diverse types of local and exotic animal species. But the zoo is faithful to its original intention and as a 'Tierpark' does not concentrate on breeding exotic animal species despite suitable nature and climate conditions, but rather offers authentic conditions for animals that are common and easily overlooked in other zoos - especially the European species. Here in Stadt Haag they try not to bite off more than they can chew. Their goal is to create an enjoyable park and show that a zoo to be attractive does not have to present a diversity of exotic species that can be found in tropical forests or other exotic habitats. A similar diversity of fauna is common in variety of habitats in Europe.

Style unity of the zoo landscape is quite common for most of the Austrian zoos I had a chance to visit. It is precisely the one characteristic that is lacking and therefore the most significant and long-lasting problem of many zoological gardens in Middle Europe - such as in Slovakia (Bratislava, Košice), in Hungary (Nyíregyháza, Veszprém) and Poland (Warsaw, Katowice). All of the enclosures in Stadt Haag are spacious and naturally embedded in the forested area . Barriers and fences are cleverly adapted to their natural surroundings, using mostly wood, or barely noticeable netting. Even for 'ordinary' donkeys, Highland cattle, yaks, several species of goats and sheep, red deer, mouflons, wild boars - often of least interest to visitors or renowned zoos - spacious enclosures are provided . The modern phenomenon of geozoos, with the premises divided according to the continents or other geographical areas causes a decrease in interest in European fauna. It is unfortunate that many of these modern zoos are organised in such a way, because great zoos, such as those of Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Leipzig, Pairi Daiza, Planckendael, Arnhem, Zlín, and Plzeň utterly neglect animals from the European continent in their collections. They might be less attractive to visitors at first sight, but they are essential for our native ecosystems. Tierpark Stadt Haag should be appreciated for not following mainstream developments and avoid being too commercial and exclusive. Although having suitable natural conditions for breeding large tropical animals, they maintain a modest status and show that native animal species can be equally interesting for the visitors as exotic ones.

The Zoo has a large collection of hoofed animals on display, mainly focusing on Euro-Asian species. In addition to those mentioned above they keep nilgai, Himalayan thar, and Alpine chamois, but also Chapman's zebra and American bison. Apparently, they have good breeding results with a considerable number of their big cat species. The Zoo offers natural conditions that are suitable for all of them, with their enclosures situated in natural forests. To be prepared for separating animals in case of incompatibility, e.g. newborns, ill or injured individuals, all the enclosures consist of a main area and a smaller one. Arguably the best enclosure is the one for African lions, built in 2013. It consists of a sloping meadow surrounded by trees and visitors are separated from the big cats by high fences. On the roof of their pavilion , there is a viewing deck where visitors have a great chance to observe the animals without any barriers and with a sophisticated overview of the entire enclosure. The exhibit for North-Chinese leopards (Panthera pardus japonensis) is also very resourcefully furnished similar to the forest and hilly enclosures for cougars, wolves, and Eurasian lynx. Amur tigers have the weakest presentation among big cats. Their enclosure is located on the sunny side causing large parts of the grass to become withered with just a few little islands of green grass left during summer. Additionally, the tigers have few opportunities to hide from the sun and curious visitors. The enclosure is too small for the tigers to feel comfortable and have a chance to relax, as well as have a good workout. But the worst enclosure is undoubtedly the one for brown bears (the Tierpark's symbolic animal) - two old enclosures surrounded by concrete walls on all sides. Although they try to keep the bears active by offering them many enrichment features such as artificially built rocky hills with vegetation, two tunnels to hide and a big pool, the enclosure is aesthetically the weakest one in the entire zoo. The view at an incomparable larger enclosure for wild boar makes you feel even sadder when standing at this one.

The new Barbary macaque and hamadryas baboon pavilion is one of the few modern exhibits situated on the Zoo grounds. It consists of a single space divided into two areas, of which the smaller one is for the macaques and the bigger houses the baboons. Both are designed so that the animals are kept in a valley and the visitors get to observe them from above. The macaques are in closer range for viewing, while the baboons are several metres underneath the visitor's perspective. However, both viewing areas offer a great overlook of the animals and their habitat full of tree branches and various climbing frames for enrichment. An interesting thing about the enclosure for the baboons is that it's styled according an African savannah with, as decoration, a wreck of a safari car taken over by monkeys . The paintings on the enclosure walls supposedly meant to create a never-ending panorama of African savannah, but it ruins the overall good impression of the enclosure. They even painted figures of baboons, which seem redundant. Actually, they might even be quite confusing for the real animals. Fortunately, similar paintings are not used in the zoo elsewhere (at least not right inside the enclosures).

Tierpark Stadt Haag is one of the most popular attractions of the Lower Austria, and visited not only by local tourists. Each information panel at the enclosures includes, besides German and Latin, also English and even Czech variations of the species' name. Although the inclusion of the Czech language is to be applauded, the translation is very inconsistent and many times seems to be translated by google translator. There are not only inconsistencies to be found in the translations (Dybowski's sika deer being translated merely as Sika deer), but there are also many grammatical and factual errors. To make a better impression, the Zoo should definitely correct the mistakes. For a Czech or Slovak tourist, it may affect the impression of the entire visit slightly negative.