Knie's Children's Zoo
| Knie's Children's Zoo | ||
|---|---|---|
| place | Oberseestrasse 36 8640 Rapperswil |
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| surface | 4.2 ha | |
| opening | 1962 | |
| Animal species | 42 species (2016) | |
| Individuals | 348 animals (2016) | |
| Visitor numbers | 360,000 (2016) | |
| organization | ||
| Sponsorship | National Circus AG | |
| Member of | VdZ , Zoo Switzerland | |
 Entrance to Knie's Children's Zoo (July 2009) |
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| www.knieskinderzoo.ch | ||
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Coordinates: 47 ° 13 '25.1 " N , 8 ° 49' 19.2" E ; CH1903: 704.77 thousand / 231225
Knie's Children's Zoo is a zoological garden in Rapperswil in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen . The zoo belongs to the Swiss National Circus Knie and is part of its winter quarters. Some of the animals in the children's zoo accompany Circus Knie on its Swiss tour as a hiking zoo .
Knie's children's zoo invites you to visit from March to October. In contrast to other zoos, direct contact between visitors and the animals is an important concern and is definitely desirable. Various pets can be petted and fed with zoo food.
You can see elephants , many ungulates , several species of monkeys , rodents , kangaroos and a whole range of birds , a total of around 400 animals from 44 species. In addition, the zoo offers a sea lion show as well as places to stop and play.
Knies Children's Zoo uses the proceeds to support a project to protect the most endangered Asian elephants in Sri Lanka. At the moment (2015) the support for another project in Thailand is being examined.
history
On Whitsun , June 10, 1962, Fredy Knie senior and Rolf Knie senior Knie's children's zoo opened.
The birth of Sahib-Fridolin , the first Asian elephant born in Switzerland , was announced as early as February 1963 . His mother Ceylon died three months later. The young animal was raised as a bottle child by the elephant specialist and animal teacher Josef Hack. The second Asian elephant baby followed in August 1965: Mother Java gave birth to the elephant girl Madura .
In 1965 the zoo received two trained dolphins from Florida. A large salt water swimming pool was set up for Sindbad and the skipper . In 1970, the two were moved into a newly built dolphinarium with a capacity of 800,000 liters of seawater. In 1972 the pool was given a roof. One of the two alleged males was found to be a female when the first baby dolphin was born in an inland area in July 1975. The young visitors named the offspring Rappi . In March 1979, the dolphin mother Mitzi gave birth to the second offspring.
At the end of September 1975, the four-year-old elephant girl Ceylon joined the children's elephant group .
In 1980, Rolf Knie senior took over the management of the children's zoo.
In 1982, the anniversary year, the six millionth visitor was welcomed on August 18.
The birth of the third baby elephant was announced in May 1985. Lohimi stayed in the children's zoo for the first three years and was allowed to go on a Swiss tour for the first time in 1988.
In 1991 a new swimming pool with an underwater observation window was built for fur seals .
In March 1993, a Rothschild giraffe , Baluku , was born in Rapperswil for the first time . Mara followed in March 1995 and Kwaheri in June 1997 .
The keeping of dolphins in captivity has increasingly fallen into disrepute among the general public. At Knie's Children's Zoo, it was decided in 1998 to forego the dolphin shows. The dolphins were delivered to Benidorm in Spain. Now the demonstrations with the Patagonian sea lions began .
Giraffe offspring Mara gave birth to a male cub on April 3, 1999 and Giraffe Divas gave birth to her second daughter on April 8. After the end of the season, the fifth baby elephant, Sandry, was born on November 27th .
Benjamin Sinniger has been running Knie's children's zoo together with Hanspeter Steinmetz since October 1st, 2000.
In 2000, a new elephant facility with a bath, waterfall, clay pit, scratching posts, scratching walls and riding facility was opened.
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Since the season opened in 2001, a new birthday party ship has been available for children. The giraffe Mara provided offspring for the second time. On May 5, the little giraffe-girl princess was Stéphanie of Monaco on the name Aisha baptized.
In the 2002 season, the 40th anniversary of the children's zoo was celebrated. Innovations since then include, for example: parrot flight demonstrations in the otarium; In addition to pony and elephant rides, you can now also be guided through the zoo by camel . The new ring- tailed lemur and the hyacinth macaw facility were inaugurated. Furthermore, Knie's Children's Zoo entered into anniversary collaborations with six children's aid organizations. The young giraffe Rivaldo was born on April 9th and Ronaldo on May 13th .
In 2003 an adventure playground with breeding grounds for ducks and chickens as well as a guinea pig and house rabbit facility was opened. The monkey pit and the macaw aviary have been renovated. UNICEF Action Weeks took place from August 25th to September 7th .
The former monkey pit was converted into a facility for meerkats and fox mongooses and opened in 2005. In the same year, a cooperation between Circus Knie and Knies Children's Zoo and the animal welfare organization OceanCare was entered into for an action to save the Mediterranean monk seal .
In 2006 the second largest project in the history of the children's zoo came to an end. On the basis of the latest findings, a new house with outdoor facilities was built for the Rothschild giraffes on an area of over 2,500 square meters. July opened.
A new facility for two-humped camels was opened on March 6, 2008 with a house built in the Mongolian style. With an area of around 3,500 square meters, it is one of the largest systems in Europe. The two elephant houses were also newly built. Over 800 square meters, they contain ten individual boxes of 34 square meters each, scratching posts, scratching walls, a solarium and a special covering that is gentle on the feet. In 2010 the outdoor area was expanded by 400 square meters.
The new season began on March 10, 2012 under the motto 50 years of Knie's Children's Zoo . On June 10, the day it was founded 50 years ago, admission prices were the same as then. In the anniversary year, the zoo was enriched with a new species of animal, the capybara .
The baby elephant Kalaya was born on November 1, 2013 . It was only presented to the public at the start of the season in March 2014. On June 21st, two Rothschild giraffes were born. There were also offspring among the Patagonian sea lions, the male Manolitto . In July, a car for reptiles and amphibians was put into operation.
On the occasion of Franco Knie’s 60th birthday with 160 birthday guests, the newly established Himmapan elephant park and the Thai restaurant Himmapan Lodge Knies Children's Zoo were unofficially opened by Franco Knie on October 18, 2014 . After a construction period of 14 months, the 6,500 square meter facility was also opened for the Asian elephants.
With the season opening on March 7, 2015, the Himmapan Elephant Park , the Thai restaurant Himmapan Lodge Knies Children's Zoo and a newly built cheetah and penguin enclosure were presented to the public with a ceremony - Thailand / South America / Africa.
Three female elephants died in the summer of 2015: 53-year-old Sumatra died of natural causes. The 52-year-old Siri had to be put to sleep because of an advanced cancer disease and the 54-year-old Patma because of kidney failure .
Web links
- Knies Children's Zoo Official Website
- Himmapan Official Website
Sources and Notes
- ↑ a b c Data sheet on Knie's Children's Zoo on the homepage of the Association of Zoological Gardens, accessed on September 16, 2017.
- ↑ Projects in Sri Lanka and Thailand ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 6, 2015
- ↑ Kwaheri means: goodbye
- ↑ Aisha means: life
- ↑ Development, Milestones, History ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 85 kB). Retrieved September 6, 2015
- ↑ Knie does not use circus elephants ( memento of the original from September 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Bluewin.ch News. Retrieved September 6, 2015
