ZOO Decin

Dear visitors and friends of the Děčín ZOO,

after a longer break you can meet the URSUS Bulletin again. We began to publish this magazine in 1998. Our ZOO has changed a lot in past two years. The number of reared species has increased of one third, the same as the exposition area. We have linked to the declaration of a new national park The Czech Switzerland by opening a new complex of shelters, in which you can see the animals living in the surrounding wild nature. New attractions for children were built, the children ZOO has spread, the customer services has been remarkably improved. We also think of our foreign visitors, and that is why all of the information boards and printed matters are commonly translated into German. This way our ZOO has become an important and much-frequented destination in the Labe Euroregion area, where you can find a lot of entertainment as well as education and where you can rest from everyday problems. I believe that it will motivate you and your family and friends to make more and more visits to our ZOO.

Lubomír Moudrý
the Děčín ZOO Director

The URSUS Bulletin – no.2/2001, vol. III

Visit our partner ZOO – The Dresden ZOO

New Animals
At the end of July 2001 there were 208 animals in 102 species in our ZOO in total. From this number they were 137 mammals in 47 species, 133 birds in 53 species and 18 amphibians and reptiles in 4 species. From the new arrivals, among the most interesting there are certainly the first young ones of rare Bali mynah as the first rear in the recently opened Birds House, as well as three young ones of European Mink – the first rear of this species in captivity in the Czech Republic. During the holidays we managed to bring several small monkeys that has been occupying a brand new exhibit of clawed monkeys since August: Common squirrel monkey and Goeldi’s monkey. In near future we also expect import of rare Moluccan cockatoo, Tiny Deer and Alpine chamois. By breeding those deers mentioned above, our ZOO will join an exclusive rescue program in which only several selected world ZOOs take part so far.

New Exhibits
A brand new exhibit of clawed monkeys will be festively opened on 2 September, as a part of the South America fauna complex. The Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic contributed by a grant to its construction. The final adjustments were made by our ZOO employees. The nature trail will also extend. This trail leads through the exhibit of the Czech-Saxon Switzerland and it is made of a long series of information boards. It will be added by 4 new boards with information about the way how the beautiful landscape of the Labe Sandstones influenced folk artists as well as some famous musicians and painters. Besides the boards, authentic miniatures of cottages and small folk monuments, which can be seen in the Czech Switzerland territory, will appear there.

Calendar of Events for 2001
1 April ”How does spring wake up?” – baptism of a Llama glama young one with guests – Václav Vydra and Jana Boušková, festive opening of the Black storks exhibit and of the Children mini-ZOO with rabbits, cavies and pigeons

22 April ”The Land of People and Animals” (The Earth Day celebration) – a petition campaign ”Bushmeat” opening with a guest – senator Zdeněk Bárta, new exhibit The Birds House opening, baptism of a male of Mountain Anoa with guests from the Embassy of Indonesia and with a singer Lucie Vondráčková, ”Starci na chmelu” musical show

3 June ”Children celebrate in ZOO” (The Children Day celebration) – baptism of a male fox and ouessantsheep, competitions, performance of the ”Docela velké divadlo” from Litvínov

We prepare:
2 September ”School is here!” – giving goodbye to holidays, offspring baptism, festive opening of an exhibit of clawed monkeys, entertaining competitions with prizes from The Czech Insurance Company, guest: Heidi Janků

8 September Adoptive Parents Day in the Děčín ZOO – official introduction of a new possibility of animal adoption

10 – 15 September ”Colorful week or Creative Workshop in the Open Air” – a chance to join a ZOO visit with painting or ceramic clay creation, visual art symposium of the J.E.Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem students

15 September Proclaimation of the best works within the ”Colorful Week” project, students’ works vernissage, festive opening of a new part of the nature trail in the Czech-Saxon Switzerland Fauna Exhibit

30 September ”Animals also have a holiday” – celebration of the International Day of Animals, offspring baptism, official proclaimation of the petition campaign ”Bushmeat” results

9 December ”St. Nicholas Party with ZOO” – the Civic Theatre in Děčín – a pre-Christmas program of the Děčín ZOO with competitions, songs and a theatre performance

Animals Adoption
On 8 September from 11 a.m. a traditional ”Adoptive Parents Day” will take place in our ZOO. We will introduce some news concerning this favorite way of supporting our ZOO to public during this meeting. In future the amount of a contribution will not depend on expenses on a particular animal but it will rather depend on real financial possibilities of the person interested in sponsoring. Such a person can cover an amount from 500,- Kč to 2000,- Kč and this way to share an adoption of any species, i.e. also of those animals whose total expenses on are far higher than the donor’s possibilities. Since September 2001 you can find more information on the Internet address www.zoodecin.cz or by means of an information leaflet.

Visit the Night ZOO ”Sulawesi” for new species of night animals next to a new souvenirs shop ”Sulawesi” in the center of the town in the Teplická Street. There you can see some night animal species like Slow Loris, Lesser Malay mouse deer and Tawny frogmouth and you can as well buy some attractive souvenirs here. Open Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Visit the nature trail ”Pastýřská stěna” (The Shepherds Wall), which was opened in 2000 and built in co-operation with CJD Heidenau (Germany), Administration of Forests and the Děčín ZOO. The trail starts near the ZOO entrance, then it passes by the Jahn’s View and the ”Pastýřská stěna” Restaurant and continues along the upper border of the ZOO and it ends at the children playground at the end of the Na vinici Street. The trail consists of several rests and information boards and even children can find a lot of fun at its end.

New information materials:
Thanks to a grant from the Small Projects Fund Phare CBC our ZOO was able to issue not only the two numbers of this bulletin, but also a new plan of the ZOO area, as well as the Czech-Saxon Switzerland fauna exhibit guidebook and four interesting folders about works in the field of folk architecture, small monuments, visual art and music. The authors of these works were inspired by the nature surrounding us. We have also issued an informative brochure in which you can learn how it will work in animals sponsoring matters in future. An adjustment of our web pages and creating their German version has been a part of this project too.

The URSUS Bulletin – no.1/2001, vol. III

New animals
In the period between Christmas and nowadays, young ones of Babirusa, young ones of the smallest wild ox in the world Mountain anoa, of Brown capuchin or of a miniature Ouessantsheep were born in our ZOO. However, the biggest success came at the end of May. For the first time in the history of the ZOO, little Red-legged seriemas came out, the South-American birds famous for their remarkable scream, for their colorful feathers and for snake hunting. Immediately after their birth three young ones of European mink were born, the species endangered in Europe. This happened for the first time in the history of Czech ZOOs. Our ZOO also imported European wolves, Hazel hen, Saker falcon, Hobby, Military macaw, Red-bellied macaw, Honey buzzard or White-napped crane recently. At the end of March there were 332 animals in 114 species in total in our ZOO, from this number there were 148 mammals in 49 species, 159 birds in 59 species and 25 reptiles in 6 species.

New exhibits
Our ZOO has spread for record 39 new exhibits of total area of 1,3 hectares. A new exhibit - ”The Czech-Saxon Switzerland Fauna Exhibit” with animals of the national parks with the same names, was opened in August 2000. There are 35 shelters including an information system and first parts of a nature trail (55 information boards with pictures and tri-lingual texts). Here visitors meet those animal species which can not be mostly seen in wild nature of national parks – felid and marten carnivores, wolves, grouse birds, birds of prey, owls, songbirds as well as amphibians and reptiles live here. Further, new expositions for colorful Prevost squirrel, a run for Hog deers and White-napped crane were opened, as well as a large fowl-run for Black stork and small waterfowls opened in spring. We also built the largest building for birds in the history of our ZOO – The Birds House, where large parrots and many bird species of so called Indomalaysia territory live (13 species in total, 11 of them are brand new in the ZOO). Among news there is also the Night ZOO ”Sulawesi” for night animal species next to the new souvenirs shop ”Sulawesi” in the center of the town in the Teplická Street. Here we can see night animal species like Slow loris, Lesser Malay mouse deer and Tawny frogmouth and we can buy some attractive souvenirs.

Calendar of Events for 2001

1 April ”How does spring wake up?” – baptism of a Llama glama young one with guests – Václav Vydra and Jana Boušková, festive opening of the Black storks exhibit and of the Children mini-ZOO with rabbits, cavies and pigeons

3 June ”Children celebrate in ZOO”(The Children Day celebration) – baptism of a male fox and ouessantsheep, competitions, performance of the ”Docela velké divadlo” from Litvínov

We prepare:

2 September ”School is here!” – giving goodbye to holidays, offspring baptism, entertaining competitions with prizes

10 – 16 September ”Colorful week or Creative Workshop in the Open Air” – a chance to join a ZOO visit with painting or ceramic clay creation

30 September ”Animals also have a holiday” – celebration of the International Day of Animals, offspring baptism, official proclaimation of the petition campaign ”Bushmeat” results

9 December ”St. Nicholas Party with ZOO” – the Civic Theatre in Děčín – a pre-Christmas program of the Děčín ZOO with competitions, songs and a theatre performance

To the ZOO with discount!
The Děčín residents have a chance to buy a card ”Děčíňák” for one fee of 20,- Kč in the ZOO or in the Sulawesi shop in the Teplická street. It is a card for one person with unlimited validity. If a card holder shows this card while buying an entrance ticket to the ZOO, he/she will then receive a discount according to the actual entrance fee.

Petition
Intensity of illegal hunting for wild forest animals in Africa for meat has increased rapidly in recent years, because of better accessibility of remote parts of tropical forests by means of a road net, built by wood-working and mining companies. Hundreds of thousands of tones of meat from elephants, antelopes or apes are sold every year. The European Association of ZOOs and Aquarius (EAZA) decided to stand up against killing of rare animal species and it prepared a campaign, within which signatures under a petition will be collected, to ask for reduction of illegal hunting. Many Czech ZOOs has joined this campaign, including ours. Since 1 April more than 1000 people has signed the petition in our ZOO so far. Do you want to join us or to help? There are more information about this campaign including the text of the petition on our web pages, or we can give you some on the phone number 53 11 64.

Animals Adoption
In future the amount of a contribution will not depend on expenses on a particular animal but it will rather depend on real financial possibilities of the person interested in sponsoring. Such a person can cover an amount from 500,- Kč to 2000,- Kč and this way to share an adoption of any species, i.e. also of those animals whose total expenses on are far higher than the donor’s possibilities. You can find more information on our Internet pages or by means of an information leaflet. At present more than 100 animals have been adopted, 90 adoptive parents take care of them. There are 49 Czech and 41 German adoptive parents.

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