The Prague Zoo christened the baby grebe and awarded prizes to its supporters
The Prague Zoo honored its most important supporters with Little, Big and Wild Richard – this year they received all the awards from representatives of the public, which is the main support of the garden and was and is extraordinary. During the meeting of sponsors and friends of the zoo, the christening of a little rake was also held. The five-month-old female was named Farisa by her godfather, actor Miroslav Táborský.
“Today belongs to the sponsors and adoptive parents of our animals, to whom we are extremely grateful for their support. During this year, we are already more than nine million crowns, and this support is more important for us, because during the previous two years we suffered large financial losses due to covid,” said the director of the Prague Zoo Miroslav Bobek. According to him, this year’s statistics were also significantly affected by the arrival of one new animal. “Cooper the common wombat, which we introduced in January this year, has become the star of visitors in less than a year and ranks first in the list of the most sponsored animals. He even surpassed the extremely popular gorillas.”
The Great Richard Award was received by Mrs Renata Petrova, who has been the adoptive mother of the animals at the zoo since the flood year of 2002. Every year she adopts a cheetah and a Eurasian wolf. In total, over two decades, a thousand of these breeds for an incredible amount – 526i crowns!
I’m a puppeteer Marek Votlučka, the recent owner of Little Richard, originally the reconstruction of the Prague Zoo after the floods 20 years ago. From 2003 until earlier, he has already sent a generous 201 thousand crowns to breed his favorite amphibian game.
This year’s Wild Richard travels to Mrs Bozena Bankova. She collected a respectable 1,029 food stamps across animal species as part of the Food Stamps for Animals project. the high number was evaluated by the zoo management as so “wild” that they decided to award the said prize to her.
On the occasion of the sponsor’s day, the christening of a young Cape grebe was also held. The name of the little girl was decided by the readers of the portal iDNES.cz, who chose the African name Farisa, meaning “the one who brings happiness”. The baptism itself in the Africký dům pavilion was undertaken by an actor Miroslav Táborsky: “I’ve always had a weakness for ugly ducklings. Years ago, I took a liking to rascals because they were overlooked next to tall giraffes. When I saw them eating mealworms with great relish here in the Prague Zoo, I literally fell in love with them and my family. It is a great honor for me to be able to christen the fourth cub of the well-known female Kvída today,” Táborský said on this occasion.
As part of the festive program, the winners of the “I take photos at the Prague Zoo” competition were also announced. You can view the winning images of all award-winning categories in the Dja Reserve pavilion opposite the main gorilla exhibit near the vivarium. At the end, a traditional discussion with the citizens of the Prague-Troja district took place in the Education Center.
Photo 1: Prague Zoo has traditionally honored its sponsors and supporters with Richard awards. Wild Richard is taken over from the hands of zoo director Miroslav Bobek by Mrs. Bozena Banková, who bought a respectable 1,029 food stamps for the animals. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Photo 2: The little female Cape grebe was ceremonially christened “Farisa”, meaning “the one who brings good luck”. Pictured with mother Kvída, who is already the fourth successfully reared cub. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo
Photo 3: During the meeting of the sponsors and friends of the Prague Zoo, the christening of the young Cape sparrowhawk took place. The five-month-old female was christened by actor Miroslav Táborský as Farisa – i.e. as “the one who brings happiness”. The name was chosen in a poll by readers of the iDNES.cz portal. Photo by Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo