Heinz-Georg Klös

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Bust in the Berlin Zoological Garden

Heinz-Georg Klös (born January 6, 1926 in Elberfeld ; † July 28, 2014 in Berlin ) was a German veterinarian and author . From 1956 to 1991 he was director of the Berlin zoological garden .

Life

Heinz-Georg Klös grew up as the son of the chemist Heinrich Klös near the Wuppertal Zoo . As a five-year-old he was already fascinated by the profession of zoo director. At the age of 14, Klös gained his first practical animal care experience in the zoo in his hometown of Wuppertal. Further internships in various zoos (including the Frankfurt Zoo ), but also at the circus, followed in later years. Klös was drafted as an air force helper , for the Reich Labor Service and for the Wehrmacht . After his release from British captivity, he had to take his Abitur at the Elberfelder Gymnasium on the basis of a provisional “maturity note” before he could study veterinary medicine at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen from 1947 to 1953 . He received his doctorate in 1953 with a dissertation on comparative studies on the effect of digitalis glycosides <g-strophantin, digoxin, bovia and digitoxin> on the smooth muscles of the intestine and uterus of guinea pigs before and after blockade of the ganglia with d-tubocurarine chloride with "summa cum" laude ”. During his student days, on July 21, 1950, Klös was a freelancer for the General-Anzeiger für Elberfeld-Barmen and witnessed the fall of the circus elephant " Tuffi " from the Wuppertal suspension railway into the Wupper.

In April 1954, Klös began his career as a zoo director at the time as the youngest zoo director in Germany at the Osnabrück Zoo . Due to the political situation, he did not accept a call to the Leipzig Zoo , but on the recommendation of Bernhard Grzimek , succeeded Katharina Heinroth as scientific director of the Berlin Zoological Garden on December 27, 1956 . At the same time he became a member of the board of the Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG and on January 1, 1969, its chairman. The zoo, which was badly damaged in the war, was rebuilt, modernized and expanded under Klös' management. On August 31, 1991, Klös moved from the management board to the supervisory board of Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG, of which he was a member until 2006. He was a member of the supervisory board of Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde GmbH from April 15, 1991 to April 11, 2001 as chairman. Heinz-Georg Klös lived with his wife Ursula, née Duske, near the Berlin Zoo. The marriage resulted in two daughters and a son. The son Heiner works as a curator for predators in the Berlin zoo.

Services

Under Heinz-Georg Klös numerous animal houses were built at the Berlin Zoo, so u. a. the house for great apes and lower apes (1958), a bird house (1960), a rhinoceros house (1964), a predator house (1974) with the first nocturnal animal department in a German zoo and based on a design by Ursula Klös (1975). Between 1978 and 1983 the aquarium was completely renovated and in 1980 the landscape aquarium was added. During Klös' directorate, the Berlin Zoo succeeded in first breeding the James Flamingo (1989), the Great Bustard (1964) and the Mountain Anoas (1972) as well as the first German breeding of the gray-cheeked hornbird (1977), the owl-headed monkey (1960), the Greater Flamingo ( 1963), the chile flamingo (1965), the Andean flamingo (1975) and the eastern monkey (1961).

Together with Hans Frädrich, Klös edited the Berlin zoo's Bongo magazine from 1977 to 2002 . From 1960 to 1977 he was on the board of the Association of German Zoo Directors, from 1969 to 1971 as President. From 1996 to 2008 he was a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Heinz Sielmann Foundation and, in 2005, set up the Ursula and Heinz Georg Klös Foundation administered by the German Veterinary Medical Society . Every two years the foundation awards the "Ursula-und-Heinz-Georg-Klös-Preis", a young research award for outstanding scientific achievements in the zoo animal, wild animal and exotic medicine, which is part of the annual congress of the "German Society for Zoo Animals -, Wildlife and Exotic Medicine ZWE-DVG ”is awarded. The announcement can be found in the veterinary print media.

Works (selection)

  • 1969: From menagerie to animal paradise. 125 years of Berlin Zoo
  • 1971: Paradise for wild animals
  • 1976 (together with Ernst Michael Lang ): Zoo animal diseases
  • 1978: Berlin and its zoo
  • 1981: Berliners and their animals
  • 1990 (together with Ursula Klös): The Berlin Zoo as reflected in its buildings 1841–1989
  • 1994 (together with Hans Frädrich and Ursula Klös): Noah's Ark on the Spree. 150 years of the zoological garden in Berlin
  • 1995 (together with Reinhard Göthenboth): Diseases of zoo and wild animals
  • 1997: friendship with animals. The former director of the Berlin Zoological Garden tells
  • 1998: (together with LC Rookmaaker): The Rhinoceros in Captivity

honors and awards

  • 1970: Appointment as honorary professor by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Free University of Berlin
  • 1974: Federal Cross of Merit, First Class
  • 1981: Great Cross of Merit
  • 1982: Award of the Wilhelm Pfeiffer Medal by the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Breeding at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen
  • 1984: Awarded the "Golden Conservation Medal" by the Zoological Society of San Diego
  • 1986: Large Cross of Merit with a star
  • 1986: Appointment as "Knight Commandeur of the Golden Ark" by WWF President Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
  • 1998: Award of the "Francisco de Miranda" order, first class by the President of Venezuela
  • 1990: Awarded an honorary doctorate from the Veterinary Faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin
  • 1991: Ernst Reuter badge , awarded by the Berlin Senate
  • 1991: Konrad Lorenz Medal from the Vienna Volksbildungswerk
  • 1991: Oskar Röder badge of honor, awarded by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Leipzig
  • 1992: Medal of Honor from the University of Veterinary Medicine Brno
  • 1993: Medal of Honor of the Polish Society of Veterinary Sciences
  • 1994: Heinz Sielmann Prize of Honor from the Heinz Sielmann Foundation
  • 1997: Appointment as honorary member of the German Veterinary Society
  • 1998: Award of an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Leipzig
  • 2000: Awarded the title of " City Elder of Berlin "
  • 2000: Appointment as Honorary President of the European Society for the Protection of Mammals

Heinz-Georg Klös was honorary chairman of the supervisory board of Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde GmbH and honorary member of the supervisory board of Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG.

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinz-Georg Klös  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Former zoo director Heinz-Georg Klös has died . In: Berliner Zeitung , August 1, 2014
  2. ^ Heinz-Georg Klös: Friendship with animals . Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86124-331-8 , pp. 48-55.
  3. ↑ Ludwig Baumgarten: Chronicle of the Zoological Garden in Halle . Part 2: 1945-1976 . Halle 2008, p. 175
  4. ↑ Grzimek, for his part, did not want to move from Frankfurt Zoo to Berlin due to the political situation. Bernhard Grzimek: Got to the people. Experiences with people . Munich 1974, p. 379
  5. ↑ World and German first breeding at Zootierliste.de
personal data
SURNAME Klös, Heinz-Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German veterinarian and zoo director
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Wuppertal
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 2014
Place of death Berlin