Zoo of the Minis

Tiergarten Aue Zoo of the Minis
place	Damaschkestraße 1 08280 Aue-Bad Schlema
surface	2 ha
opening	1960
Animal species	about 70 species
Individuals	approx. 400 animals
Species focus	Specialization in particularly small animal species and races
Visitor numbers	65,000 (2018)
organization
management	Barbara Schroller and Christian Schroller
Sponsorship	Zoo of minis e. V.
Member of	DTG
Welcome board
www.zooderminis.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 56.9 "  N , 12 ° 42 ′ 40.7"  E

The Minis Zoo is a zoological garden in the Ore Mountains town of Aue-Bad Schlema . It emerged in 1991 from the zoo that was opened by a teacher in 1960 and has specialized in the breeding, keeping and presentation of particularly small animal breeds . The head of the facility is the biologist Barbara Schroller (as of 2018).

history

When the question of financing municipal facilities became important after the fall of the Wall , the Aue city ​​administration came up with the idea of ​​only keeping small animals in the former zoo: they require less space, less food and are still attractive to visitors. The city founded an association that has been operating the facility ever since.

In spring 2018, more than 400 animal dwarfs are represented in the zoo , including all of the world's smallest breeds of domestic animals and many very rare mini-forms from the wild . To make visiting the zoo attractive for families, there is a playground and a crawling and petting zoo in the area . The employees also organize children's birthday parties upon prior notification.

The increasing attractiveness of this special zoo is documented among other things by the number of visitors; 57,000 visitors were counted in 2015, compared to around 55,000 in the previous year.

Also in 2015, filming of the television series Terra X took place in the Auer Mini-Zoo.

particularities

Miniature piglet, photographed in the run in 2012

To individual animals

The Auer city administration repeatedly reports on particularly rare or little-known mini- animals in this facility, for example these:

• In July 2017, the zoo received a weasel from a wildlife sanctuary in Bremen . The mammals, known as the “smallest predators in the world”, are not kept in any other zoo in Germany. The animal presented to the public from July 20th was named Merle , is twelve centimeters long (without tail) and weighs 60  grams .
• Two Azara agoutis were presented to visitors for the first time at Easter 2018 . The guinea pig relatives originally live in South America . The Azara's agouti , because of its greenish Fells also Grünaguti , belongs with about two kilogram of body weight of the smallest Agutiarten.

Design and celebrations in the complex

Carved mouse head in the ZdM

The signposts on the visitor paths along the slope are decorated with wooden or stone animal figures, as shown in the photo.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the operating association has organized a zoo festival every year on the last Sunday in May in cooperation with the Aue city administration .

Financial aid

In late autumn 2018 has mini-zoo-development association of over 60 traders from the region a donation funnel with pavilion sponsored get. The visitors take advantage of this opportunity abundantly; the funds collected with the help of this donation funnel flow directly into the maintenance of the zoo.

Response to the pandemic

In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the zoo had to close to visitors on March 17th. However, the friends and employees have found a good solution to inform all those interested in the zoo in a timely and very entertaining way: small videos and stories are posted daily on Facebook . In addition, an online shop for souvenirs will be set up at short notice, for example the support association can be supported by shopping in the plush animal zoo .

Dwarf animals in the zoo of minis (selection)

• Azara agouti
• Chinese leopard
• Formosa dwarf muntjacs
• Gorse cat
• Göttingen mini pigs
• Hahn's dwarf macaw
• Kurzkopfgleitbeutler ( Sugar Glider )
  The singer Dieter Birr of the Puhdys received an animal sponsorship from his fan club on the occasion of his 75th birthday for this animal species
• Short-eared elephant
  held here since 2010. Although these animals are difficult to induce to mate, they had offspring again in September 2018. Several offspring have already been passed on to other zoos in recent years.
• Mouse weasel
• Mini Shetland pony
• Ouessant dwarf sheep,
  including two goats born in 2018
• Bush rats , native Chile
• Common marmosets
• Desert fox
• Little Canada Goose
• Dwarf otters
• Pygmy marmosets
• Dwarf day geckos, turquoise or sky-blue
  On December 28, 2018, the first two-centimeter-long young of a clutch hatched. The entire species is threatened with extinction in the wild (where it only occurs on about four square kilometers in the nature reserve of the Kimboza Forest ( Tanzania )).

Trivia

In April 2020, a life-size elephant weighing 200 kg was placed in the grounds of the zoo . It was created in preparation for Saxon Day , which had to be canceled due to the pandemic, made of GRP and was intended to embody the well-known landmark of the Wellner cutlery factory during the move. Production could not be stopped anymore. Consideration is being given to installing the elephant in the entrance area there after the restoration of the listed Wellner factory.

Web links

Commons : Zoo of Minis  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the zoo

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zoo of the Minis with visitor record! In: Bild , Chemnitz, December 28, 2015.
2. ↑ Zoo der Minis comes to ZDF , In: Bild , April 15, 2015.
3. ↑ Press release from the city administration of Aue: The smallest predator in the world in the Auer Tiergarten "zoo der minis" , July 18, 2017.
4. ↑ Press release of the city administration from 2018: News from the Auer Tiergarten "zoo der minis" , March 26, 2018.
5. ↑ Tierparkfest in Aue at www.erlebnisland-erzgebirge.de, accessed on May 14, 2018.
6. ↑ Impressions from the Tierparkfest 2017 on www.hit-TV.eu; accessed on May 15, 2018.
7. ↑ Press release from the city administration of Aue: Offspring in the minis zoo ; 19th November 2018.
8. ↑ Press release from the city administration of Aue-Bad Schlema from March 20, 2020: “zoo der minis” comes into the living room ; see [1] .
9. ↑ Chinese leopard in www.tierdoku.com.
10. ↑ Site plan of the zoo with text explanations on the Chinese leopard , accessed on May 15, 2018.
11. ^ Offspring in the Zoo of the Minis , press release of the city of Aue from December 4, 2018 on the birth of a dwarf muntjac deer.
12. ↑ Baby genet dares to look in front of the lens . In Freie Presse , March 12, 2015.
13. ^ A lucky pig named Pinki , in: Neue Post , December 30, 1998.
14. ↑ Press release from the Auer Rathaus dated: New celebrity sponsorships and new residents .
15. ↑ Ranschnüffeln in the zoo of the Minis , Free Press ,, 2014.
16. ↑ Short-eared trumpet spring babies in the Auer Tiergarten "zoo der minis" , press release from the Auer Rathaus dated October 11, 2018.
17. ↑ Smallest Pony in the World , In: Neue Woche , May 29, 2004.
18. ↑ The first Easter lambs are here ; Press release of the Auer city administration, March 15, 2018.
19. ↑ New residents in the Zoo of the Minis , in: Blick , March 31, 2017.
20. ↑ ^{a b} The new stars in the Minis Zoo , Superillu , July 14, 2010.
21. ↑ New resident in the Zoo of the Minis , press release of the Auer city administration about the replacement of the deceased little silky monkey lady Paula ; October 16, 2018.
22. ↑ Press release of the Auer city administration from January 4, 2019: News from the zoo of the minis
23. ↑ Press release from the Auer Town Hall on April 28, 2020: New "residents" in the Auer Tiergarten .