Delitzsch Zoo

Delitzsch Zoo
motto	With the animal on you and you
place	Rosental 60 ; 04509 Delitzsch
surface	4.0 hectares
opening	June 11, 1968
Animal species	about 60 species
Individuals	approx. 350 animals
Visitor numbers	84,735 (2019)
organization
management	Elisabeth Wiegand
Sponsorship	City of Delitzsch
Funding organizations	Friends of the Delitzsch Zoo
Member of	DTG
	General plan at the entrance (status: 2013)
	tiergarten-delitzsch.com

51.52936 12.31567Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 45.7 " N , 12 ° 18 ′ 56.4" E

The Delitzsch Zoo is a smaller zoo in the northern Saxon city of Delitzsch . Around 350 animals of 60 different species live on an area of around four hectares. The facility in the Loberaue, northwest of the city park, has existed since 1968.

location

The zoo is located in the Rosental, northwest of the old town of Delitzsch. The flat, partly forest-like area of the zoo takes up an area of four hectares and borders the city park to the east, and the Lobers brook to the north . To the west is the district of Kertitz , from which the Tiergarten is separated by federal highway 184 .

history

The idea for building a zoo arose from the hobby of the cooperative farmer and first director Franz Kirsch. Since 1960 it has held over 22 different species of ducks and geese on the site of an old sand pit in Klitschmar . This attraction was very popular with the citizens of Delitzsch at the time, so that on May 1, 1967, the groundbreaking ceremony took place on the present site. Due to the boggy meadow area, several thousand cubic meters of alluvial sand were leveled to create a stable subsurface.

When the zoo opened on June 11, 1968, it was home to 35 bird and ten mammal species. In 1990 the former director of the Dresden zoo, Hans-Dieter Hohmann, took over the management. In 1993 the Friends of the Tiergarten Delitzsch e. V., which contributes to the financial support in the species-appropriate design of the animal facilities and to educational work. A zoo school for exhibitions and lectures was established in the center of the zoo in 2004. In 2005 an open-air stage was built . The brown bear enclosure, enlarged to 1200 m², was opened in September 2012. After the death of the last remaining grizzly bear in 2018, the facility was not reoccupied. It has been under construction since 2019 and is expected to house cheetahs from 2020.

Livestock

The animal population includes, among others, anubis baboons , lesser flamingos , hooded capuchins , Bennett kangaroos , crowned cranes and trample . By participating in the conservation breeding project for the endangered European mink , the zoo is helping to protect species. Outdoor facilities designed to be close to nature are only separated from visitors by low barriers made of tree stumps, roots and boulders. At the Africa enclosure with eland and zebras, a four-meter-high viewing platform makes it easier to look at the animals. There is also a petting enclosure, a petting pond with fish, a feeding machine for baboons, a guinea pig village and a walk-in aviary with budgies and zebra finches.

Known animals

In February 2011, the oldest Jaguarundi tomcat in Europe, Frank (then 14 years old), who lives in Delitzsch Zoo, gained national and international media interest due to the misalignment of his eyes. He was born on August 12, 1996 in Dortmund Zoo and brought to Delitzsch in 2008. On May 6, 2011, he had to be euthanized due to cancer.