Krefelder Zoo

About

Krefeld Zoo is a zoo in the city of Krefeld, Germany, specialized in management of primates, carnivores, fauna from the African savanna and tropical birds.

The zoo was opened on 22 May 1938, as a youth education place at the Grotenburgpark, where the area designed for the zoo was half of the total park area, where some hundred species were kept in 40 enclosures. The first director Heinrich Janßen was previously director for the natural history museum.

During the Second World War there were air raids on Krefeld from 1940 to 1945, during which parts of the zoo were also hit. Two badgers and a deer were killed, the remaining animals were able to escape through the damaged fences. The wolves had to be killed because of this. In the 1950s, the Grotenburgschlösschen in the park was converted into a café and restaurant for visitors to the zoo. In 1959 Walter Encke took over the management of the zoo. Encke's concern was to take special care of animals of which little was known and to prevent the extinction of South American species by breeding them. Starting in 1963, outdoor enclosures for baboons, penguins and seals as well as a house for lions were built. In 1971 the "Tierpark" was renamed "Zoo". During this time the first elephants, rhinos and orangutans were kept there.

On 1 July 2005, Krefeld Zoo was converted into a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH). The City of Krefeld holds 74.9% of the company shares, the Förderverein Zoofreunde Krefeld e. V. the remaining 25.1%. The zoo had 65 employees and in addition 21 volunteers did work in the volunteer team as of 2019.

2012 new enclosure for gorillas opened, and in 2014 another for penguins. Since 2014 the zoo also has its own veterinary clinic.

During the night of 31 December 2019 - 1 January 2020, a fire engulfed the Monkey House; more than 30 animals were killed, including orangutans, chimpanzees and marmosets. Police suspected the fire to be caused by sky lanterns, which are banned in Germany due to being a fire hazard ; investigators found used lanterns near the burnt down enclosure.

During the night of New Year 2020, the monkey tropical house burned down completely. More than 30 animals were killed, including five Bornean orangutans, one chimpanzee and two western lowland gorillas ; only two chimpanzees survived. The fire was reported shortly after midnight and took several hours to be extinguished by the fire brigade. On New Year's Day, the Zoo management announced at a press conference that the fire was probably caused by sky lanterns, which are forbidden in Germany due to the high risk of them starting fires. A 60-year-old woman and her two adult daughters, who had purchased sky lanterns online and released them prior to the fire, subsequently surrendered themselves to police. They showed deep remorse and stated that they were unaware that sky lanterns are banned in Germany.

The zoo was opened on 22 May 1938, as a youth education place at the Grotenburgpark, where the area designed for the zoo was half of the total park area, where some hundred species were kept in 40 enclosures. The first director Heinrich Janßen was previously director for the natural history museum.

During the Second World War there were air raids on Krefeld from 1940 to 1945, during which parts of the zoo were also hit. Two badgers and a deer were killed, the remaining animals were able to escape through the damaged fences. The wolves had to be killed because of this. In the 1950s, the Grotenburgschlösschen in the park was converted into a café and restaurant for visitors to the zoo. In 1959 Walter Encke took over the management of the zoo. Encke's concern was to take special care of animals of which little was known and to prevent the extinction of South American species by breeding them. Starting in 1963, outdoor enclosures for baboons, penguins and seals as well as a house for lions were built. In 1971 the "Tierpark" was renamed "Zoo". During this time the first elephants, rhinos and orangutans were kept there.

On 1 July 2005, Krefeld Zoo was converted into a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH). The City of Krefeld holds 74.9% of the company shares, the Förderverein Zoofreunde Krefeld e. V. the remaining 25.1%. The zoo had 65 employees and in addition 21 volunteers did work in the volunteer team as of 2019.

2012 new enclosure for gorillas opened, and in 2014 another for penguins. Since 2014 the zoo also has its own veterinary clinic.

During the night of 31 December 2019 - 1 January 2020, a fire engulfed the Monkey House; more than 30 animals were killed, including orangutans, chimpanzees and marmosets. Police suspected the fire to be caused by sky lanterns, which are banned in Germany due to being a fire hazard ; investigators found used lanterns near the burnt down enclosure.

During the night of New Year 2020, the monkey tropical house burned down completely. More than 30 animals were killed, including five Bornean orangutans, one chimpanzee and two western lowland gorillas ; only two chimpanzees survived. The fire was reported shortly after midnight and took several hours to be extinguished by the fire brigade. On New Year's Day, the Zoo management announced at a press conference that the fire was probably caused by sky lanterns, which are forbidden in Germany due to the high risk of them starting fires. A 60-year-old woman and her two adult daughters, who had purchased sky lanterns online and released them prior to the fire, subsequently surrendered themselves to police. They showed deep remorse and stated that they were unaware that sky lanterns are banned in Germany.

The main focus of Krefeld Zoo is the keeping of great apes, big cats, African savannah inhabitants and tropical bird species. For subtropical and tropical species the zoo has three warm houses at its disposal, the Monkey Tropic House (since 1975) with gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans, the Bird Tropics Hall (since 1989) and the 1100 m 2 Rainforest House (since 1998). Accordingly, another focus of the zoo is the South American animal world, but also the local plant world. The Rainforest House is a South American rainforest with over 400 different plant species. There live Two-toed sloths, white-faced sakis, Leaf-nosed bats, basilisks, iguanas and numerous tropical butterfly species, many of which are now kept in their own butterfly house.

The Krefeld Affentropenhaus (Monkey Tropic House) was opened in 1975. The floor space of the greenhouse style building is 2000 square meters. The first primatarium was financed by the Walter Gehlen Foundation and the Friends of Krefeld Zoo. Until the fire, the monkey tropical house was home to orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, marmosets, megabats and birds. A temperature of 20 to 26 °C ensured a tropical, humid and warm climate. Each of the different groups of monkeys lived behind a dry trench.

Two groups of lowland gorillas have been living in Krefeld Zoo since 2014, but they do not meet each other. In the gorilla garden opened in 2012, the great apes can be observed in action in an outdoor enclosure. The enclosure has an outdoor area of around 1,200 m 2 with an adjoining 360 m 2 gorilla house. So far, the following young males have been born there: Tambo (* 2 June 2013, Kidogo x Muna), Pepe (* 6 May 2005, Kidogo x Miliki) and Bobóto (* 31 December 2018, Kidogo x Miliki).

The then new silverback Kidogo brought the zoo into the headlines worldwide in 2012, as it balanced between two trees on a rope tied in the gorilla garden. The gorilla repeated this "rope dance" several times afterwards.

The Krefeld Rainforest House with a roof construction of plexiglass and wood was opened in 1998 as the third tropical house of the Krefeld Zoo. Its construction was financed from the estate of the Krefeld entrepreneur Walter Gehlen. It is home to leaf-cutter ants, flower bats, tamandua, iguanas and frontal lobe basilisks, as well as turtles and various species of fish.

White-headed sakis and two-fingered sloths move freely through the 1,100 m 2 large hall. More dangerous animals such as the wedge-headed smooth-fronted caimans, tarantulas, poison dart frogs and a green anaconda, on the other hand, are safely housed.

Three representatives of the large South American herbivores live in the South America house, which is built like a farmhouse: lowland tapirs, capybaras and guanacos. They share the compound with the largest bird on the continent, the nandu.