Opel Zoo
| Opel Zoo | ||
|---|---|---|
| place | Am Opel-Zoo 3 (until 2015 Königsteiner Straße 35) 61476 Kronberg im Taunus |
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| surface | 27 ha | |
| opening | 1956 | |
| Animal species | 223 species (January 1, 2015) | |
| Individuals | 1631 animals (January 1, 2015) | |
| Visitor numbers | 748,990 (2014) | |
| organization | ||
| management | Thomas Kauffels | |
| Sponsorship | by Opel Hessische Zoostiftung | |
| Funding organizations | Association for friends and sponsors of the Opel Zoo eV | |
| Member of | WAZA , EAZA , VdZ , DTG | |
 Africa savannah at the entrance to the Opel Zoo |
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| www.opel-zoo.de | ||
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Coordinates: 50 ° 11 ′ 0 ″ N , 8 ° 29 ′ 11 ″ E
The Opel Zoo (from the Opel Hessische Zoostiftung) is the second larger zoological garden in the Rhine-Main area next to the Frankfurt Zoo . It was founded in 1956 on the initiative of Georg von Opel as a research enclosure and was merged into a foundation in 2007 . With around 750,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most popular leisure and cultural institutions in Hesse today . The Opel Zoo is financed exclusively through entrance fees and donations. Around 1600 animals of 223 species from all continents live in the zoo.
location
The zoo is located in a forest area between Königstein im Taunus and Kronberg im Taunus on a hillside below the Hardtberg directly on the federal highway 455 . There is a transport connection via bus line 261 Bad Homburg - Oberursel - Kronberg - Königstein. In addition to the two mostly overcrowded parking spaces on the B 455 , which can only be approached from one direction, there are also so-called forest parking spaces , which can be reached via the Opel roundabout in Königstein. Therefore, an additional entrance was set up from the forest parking lots.
A public path called “Philosophenweg” leads from Kronberg to Königstein through the middle of the Opel Zoo, which has grown since it was founded. Coming from Kronberg, only the left part of the zoo is completely fenced, while the zoo facilities on the right, which have been considerably expanded in recent years, as well as the connecting path between the old and the new main entrance of the zoo are not fenced, but only could be entered with an admission ticket. At the beginning of 2009 a compromise was found which provided for a 30-minute residence permit on the way by means of a pass. This compromise was lifted at the end of 2012, the Philosophenweg is now to be fully integrated into the zoo and therefore only accessible with an admission ticket. As a replacement for the public path, an additional circular path is being built around the Opel Zoo, the zoo will pay the costs. At the moment, however, the path is still freely accessible. In the course of the land-use planning, it is discussed whether the citizens of Königstein and Kronberg may use the “extended Philosophenweg” for up to 30 minutes free of charge. The Philosophenweg will probably be closed for citizens who do not live in Kronberg or Königstein in 2020.
Georg von Opel's former entrepreneurial villa is also located on the grounds of the zoo. A publicly accessible restaurant has also been created above the parking lot on the B 455, which provides a good overview of the zoo.
history
The zoo was founded in 1955 as the Kronberger Tiergarten . This year the first three elephants from Africa arrived at the still young zoo. On September 10th of the following year the sponsoring association "Georg von Opel - Open Enclosure for Animal Research eV" was founded. As a result, the outdoor enclosure grew steadily into a stately zoo with many rare animals. Milestones in the history of the facility include the world's first breeding of Mesopotamian fallow deer in 1960 and the second and fourth births of an African elephant in a zoo in 1965 and 1968. In 1971, the zoo founder Georg von Opel died at the age of 59 . As a result, the zoo's development was slow, also due to limited financial resources, so that at the end of the 20th century a considerable investment backlog had accumulated, which the zoo has been reducing to this day with new animal-friendly facilities.
Elephant enclosure
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The Opel Zoo has the only elephants in Hessen. That is why we are very keen to be able to continue this in the future. The new, modern elephant house with outdoor facilities was built for 11.2 million euros and completed in August 2013 because the old enclosure no longer met the requirements. In the old elephant house, the animals had to be chained up overnight for safety reasons. The outdoor area extends in the middle part of the main area. To finance it, an elephant song contest was held, as the company was mainly dependent on donations.
On March 11, 2020, Aruba , a 41-year-old elephant, died. She had been at home at the Opel Zoo for 39 years.
Other plants
The Africa savannah, which was opened to celebrate the zoo's 50th anniversary in 2006, is over 2.2 hectares in total. The animals have an outdoor area of one hectare at their disposal, the giraffes have a spacious open-air hall that can be viewed by visitors, and there are also some boxes for the giraffes. There are also 18 boxes of the same size available for zebra, wildebeest and impalas.
To mark its 60th anniversary, the Opel Zoo completed a 1.3 million euro facility for African penguins.
Conservation
The Opel Zoo was involved in saving the Mesopotamian fallow deer from extinction. The majority of all fallow deer in zoos around the world come from the breeding of the Opel Zoo, which, together with numerous other zoos, participates in the European Endangered Species Program (EEP). For the Mesopotamian fallow deer and the deer boar , the Opel Zoo keeps the studbook within the scope of the EEP.
Events
In the Opel Zoo there are regular events such as reading hours or public tours. The ZooFari event is also offered: A night in the zoo in African style. African rhythms can be heard and typical dishes from this continent are sold. In addition, you can watch animals being fed in the dark.
Radio and television
Together with the Frankfurt Zoo, the Opel Zoo is part of the animal film series Giraffe, Meerkat & Co. and the documentary animal good! . These docu-soaps are broadcast on Das Erste . The zoo stories are produced by the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Data sheet for the Opel Zoo Kronberg on the homepage of the Association of Zoological Gardens, accessed on October 3, 2015.
- ^ Foundation data
- ↑ ALK for the public philosopher's path
- ↑ Kronberger Philosophenweg remains a bone of contention from Sabine Maurer, May 17, 2009 ( Memento from January 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on Rhein-Main-Net
- ↑ Philosophenweg Compromise: 30 minutes free stroll in the Frankfurter Rundschau
- ↑ New circular route around the Opel Zoo in the FAZ on October 30, 2012, accessed on June 29, 2013
- ↑ Boris Schöppner: B-plan change for the Opel Zoo: Parking deck replaces Philosophenweg as a problem case . In: Taunus Zeitung . July 29, 2016 ( taunus-zeitung.de [accessed August 24, 2018]).
- ↑ Torsten Weigelt: Kronberg: Opel Zoo is planning further major projects . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . July 27, 2017 ( fr.de [accessed August 24, 2018]).
- ↑ Kronberg Opel Zoo plans millions in investments. In: Hessenschau, hr4. February 4, 2019, accessed February 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Torsten Weigelt: Opel Zoo gets new animals. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. February 4, 2019, accessed February 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Chronology of the outdoor enclosure on the zoo's homepage
- ↑ Andrea Herzig: Opel Zoo Elefanten: A new home for elephants . In: fr-online.de . August 30, 2013 ( fr.de [accessed March 30, 2016]).
- ↑ Mourning in the Opel Zoo: Elephant Aruba is dead - keepers were still fighting for their lives. Article from fnp.de of March 13, 2020, last accessed on March 13, 2020.
- ↑ Complete List of EEPs and ESBs ( Memento of November 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on the EAZA website, accessed on May 19, 2016.
- ↑ Giraffe, Meerkat & Co., Volume 204 ( Memento from April 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive )