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Wednesday, February 9, 2000
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Wanted: Room to roam Prague Zoo to improve animals' habitats with spacious savannas By Adam B. Ellick Photos by Vladimir Weiss |
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| News | Business | Feature | Opinion | Sports |
Tourist Info |
Classifieds |
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Wanted: Room to roam Prague Zoo to improve animals' habitats with spacious savannas By Adam B. Ellick Photos by Vladimir Weiss |
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Everyone knows three's a crowd, but you don't need to tell that to the female Indian elephant trio at the Prague Zoo. They dwell in 30-year-old stalls barely larger than their mammoth bodies.
When the weather allows, the great mammals loiter outside with a fourth African elephant. That area is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool. There they sway from side to side, a sign of boredom. This is no animal-rights paradise, and Prague Zoo spokeswoman Zuzana Klevisova admits that the elephants subsist in less-than-ideal conditions. She says that will change, but only when the 70-year-old zoo in Prague 7's Troja can secure financing for a new elephant home. For now, the behemoths must wait. The zoo is already forging ahead with three expansion projects designed to give other animals the freedom to roam outside or remain indoors, but in comfort. The projects, set for completion between the end of this year and 2003, include an "Indonesian Jungle" for primates, an "African Panorama" for giraffes, zebras and other African animals, as well as a gorilla exhibit. Klevisova says cash woes have hindered the creation of new animal habitats. The city of Prague supported 75 percent of the zoo's 1.27 billion Kc ($35 million) 1998 costs. The rest comes from the Agriculture Ministry, private sponsors and ticket sales. "Financing is always an open question," notes Klevisova.  New projects Last year, the zoo completed a new Giant Tortoise exhibit and demolished a 50-year-old building that housed monkeys, chimpanzees, orangutans and other primates. "The monkey house was in absolutely horrible condition," Klevisova says. "According to European standards, larger primates must have a certain amount of space. The old home did not meet the standards. It was in much worse condition than the elephant home is now." For now, the zoo is monkey-free -- until the state-of-the-art "Indo-nesian Jungle" goes up. The project will cost 120 million Kc and play home to orangutans, four monkey species and kangaroos. The two-story building will sit on an artificial "island," with a moat serving as the divider between visitors and primates. It's nearly four times larger than the old monkey shelter. "The old house had them all just behind bars, like a jail," Klevisova says. "But in the Jungle, they will live free. It's a trend that is not just our doing. All zoos want to go in this direction." While the elephants are confined to spartan quarters, zoo lovers can look forward to next year's 90 million Kc "African Panorama," a massive landscape that will feature 70 species, including giraffes, rhinoceroces, zebras, antelopes and ostriches over an area the size of a golf course. The driving force behind the recent upgrades is Petr Fejk, the zoo's director since 1997. Fejk also started a community outreach program, which encourages individual sponsorship of animals. After the creation of a public relations program, the zoo saw 200,000 more visitors last year than in 1998. Among the zoo's most frequent visitors is Paul Kail, director of the Prague-based Animal Conscious-ness Foundation. While he's pleased with the zoo's efforts to modernize, he remains worried. "Should they keep the animals in substandard conditions until the improvements are made?" Kail asks. "It's not a question of money. They need the mentality to take the needs of animals more seriously." Adam B. Ellick's e-mail address is news@praguepost.cz .
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