Wolfgang violence

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Bust of Wolfgang Violence in Duisburg Zoo

Wolfgang violence (born October 28, 1928 in Berlin ; † April 26, 2007 in Herrischried ) was a German zoologist, author and long-time director of the Duisburg Zoo .

Life

Wolfgang Violence first studied zoology , botany , chemistry and anthropology at the Humboldt University and later at the Free University of Berlin . He received his doctorate in 1959. The subject of his dissertation was contributions to the knowledge of the optical differentiation ability of some mustelids with special consideration of color vision . On September 1, 1959, violence began his career as a scientific assistant at the Berlin Zoological Garden . He was promoted to senior assistant in 1964 and held this position until March 31, 1966. On April 1, 1966, he was appointed director of the Duisburg Zoo.

In 1993 he retired. He died after a domestic accident at his retirement home in Herrischried in the Black Forest at the age of 78.

Achievements and criticism

Wolfgang Gewalt main focus was initially on the study of the Great Bustard . He wrote down his observations in the breeding grounds and his experiences with hand-reared Great Bustards in several publications. In 1964, he wrote the first German children's zoo guide at Berlin Zoo. In 1969 he contributed to the article on the opossums of the encyclopedia Grzimek's animal life .

In 1966, violence, meanwhile director of the zoo in Duisburg, hit the international headlines when the beluga whale Moby Dick got lost in the Rhine in May 1966 . After violence had tried several times in vain to catch the animal - for example with the use of an anesthetic rifle that was life-threatening for whales - it came under increasing criticism. Before the whale managed to swim into the North Sea in June 1966, BILD even ran the headline : “Arrested Wolfgang violence”.

In 1969, violence led an expedition to Canada and brought the first belugas to Duisburg. He also received criticism for this because of inappropriate accommodation. In 1972, together with colleagues, in the Dutch Dolfinarium Harderwijk , violence founded the European Association for Aquatic Mammals , a society for the keeping of marine mammals in human care, of which he became the first president. Regardless of the criticism, he brought two Orinoco dolphins or Toninas with him to Duisburg from a Venezuela expedition in 1975 . In 1978, violence succeeded in breeding bottlenose dolphins for the first time in a German zoo.

During his many years of management, he shaped the profile of the Duisburg Zoo. With the presentation of rare animals and the focus on keeping marine mammals, he gained international recognition for the zoo for the first time. Violence was Vice President from 1979 to 1980 and President of the Association of German Zoo Directors from 1981 to 1983 . In 1993 the Austrian Academy of Sciences awarded him the Konrad Lorenz Medal .

Works (selection)

  • 1954 The great bustards
  • 1956 The great bustard
  • 1959 The squirrel
  • 1964 Bakala. A gorilla lives in our kitchen
  • 1965 lions before the second breakfast
  • 1968 animals for you and me
  • 1970 Delphine, my friends
  • 1972 keeping and breeding of park and ornamental poultry
  • 1973 My colorful paradise
  • 1976 The beluga whale
  • 1984 50 years of Duisburg Zoo
  • 1985 How do they do it?
  • 1986 On the trail of the whales
  • 1993 whales and dolphins
  • 1995 love and birth in the zoo

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz-Georg Klös, Hans Frädrich, Ursula Klös: Noah's Ark on the Spree. 150 years of the zoological garden in Berlin. Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-927551-29-5 .
  2. ↑ Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz: Zoo and animal park present: Safari - a journey of discovery into the world of animals . In: Takin 2/1997 , Berlin 1997, pp. 12-13.
  3. ^ The White Whale (2002) , documentary film about Moby Dick by Stephan Koester . Review: Dietmar Bartz: 'Moby Dick' and the poisonous Rhine . taz , August 28, 2001, online
personal data
SURNAME Violence, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist, author and long-time director of the Duisburg Zoo
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 2007
Place of death Herrischried