Director of the Prague Zoo: If we didn’t build the Arctic exhibit, we would have to give up polar bears iRADIO
The director of the Prague Zoo recently received the Mongolian Order of the Polar Star. “It was a great surprise and a great honor. It is the highest award that a foreigner can receive in Mongolia,” responds Miroslav Bobek. He talks about the transports of Převalský’s horses to Mongolia, the new gorilla pavilion or the planned exhibition for polar bears in the K váče program.
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This autumn’s event at the Prague Zoo was the opening of the new gorilla pavilion, which is called the Dja Reserve. Here you will see female Kijiva, Shindu, Kamba, small male Ajaba and newcomers – silverback male Kisumu and female Duni, daughter of the famous Moja.
“Hopefully, that number will grow over time, because we have a permit to breed gorillas there,” explains Miroslav Bobek. The male Richard and his two sons Kiburi and Nuru remained in the original pavilion. Richard’s line is so represented in breeding that he is not allowed to have any more cubs.
“Richard avoided the tremendous trauma of moving. He is extremely conservative. Just make a line on the floor and he’d be fired up for a week. So imagine what moving would do to him. I think now the situation is absolutely stable in both of them.”
Arctic exposure
Another major project for the Prague Zoo will be the Arctic exhibit. It is mainly home to polar bears, their existing pavilion dates from the 1930s and is definitely no longer satisfactory.
“If they didn’t build the Arctic, we would have to give up polar bears. It is now in the stage of building permit and preparation of project documentation for the selection of a contractor. In other words, we are really getting close to the fact that construction could start in a year, if the new city management confirms that it will finance this object.”
Miroslav Bobek invited visitors to the Prague Zoo even during the Christmas holidays. “In addition to all possible usual programs, commented feeding, etc., we have decided that on Christmas Day and both Christmas holidays, children will have an entrance fee of one crown. In other words, we want to help families in this difficult time, so that visiting the zoo is financially easier for them.”
Why are Převalský’s horses not in the Prague Zoo now? Will olgoj chorchoj be part of the new exhibitions? And which animals in the zoo come from seized smugglers’ shipments? Listen to the full interview above.
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