Erfurt (dpa/th) – The Erfurt Zoopark wants to invest more than one million euros this year in renovation and conversion measures as well as better equipment in the veterinary practice. One also hopes for more third-party funds, said acting zoo director Heike Maisch on Thursday in Erfurt. Among other things, the plan is to upgrade the animal practice and to purchase its own X-ray machine. The veterinarians currently do not have a practice that is appropriate for a zoo, so it should be expanded, said the responsible Erfurt city councilor Matthias Bärwolff.
According to Maisch, there is no connection between the plans to upgrade the veterinary practice and the deaths of several zoo animals in the past year. “Pure coincidence,” said Maisch. According to the zoo, the rhino cow Marcita and her bull calf Tayo died in February 2022. In June the young lioness Latika died and in September the cheetahs Ashanti and Sima.
Maisch said the deaths were processed at the zoo. “We have no omissions internally.” Bärwolff referred to a report by an external company. He had come to the conclusion that there were hardly any deficits “in the animal farm” and no serious ones. However, organizational difficulties were pointed out. “The animals are well cared for,” he said. The report is not public and there are no plans to publish it.
A new parakeet enclosure is set to open at the zoo soon. The former giraffe enclosure is said to be a new home for cheetahs. “With the move, the breeding of these endangered predators should also become possible again in the future,” the zoo said. The current cheetah enclosure is being rebuilt – two maned wolves are to move in there later.
According to the zoo, 329,487 people visited the zoo last year. Bärwolff said the goal was half a million visitors by 2024.
At the end of the year, the facility was home to 801 animals in 137 species, including 352 mammals, 185 invertebrates, 133 birds, 69 reptiles, 44 amphibians, and 18 fish. Last year the animals consumed 150 tons of hay, 165 tons of grass, 7 tons of straw, 5 tons of beef, 35,000 grasshoppers and 5400 eggs.
