Helsinki Zoo Korkeasaari Zoo, Helsinki

Aramar said:
I don't know if you can answer this, but where on the island is the hospital located? Is the rectangular building on the peninula where they are building the bridge?!
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Yeah, it's located in Palosaari island (connected to Korkeasaari with a thin strip of land), right next to where they're building the Crown Bridges. It's not open to the public (for obvious reasons) so there's no signs showing its location, but it's not a secret either :) Any wild animals needing help can just be brought to the zoo's ticket sales, and our staff will transfer the animal to the hospital.

Platypusboy said:
@aeemeli are the green winged teals still on display in the borealia house?
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There's one female in Borealia. The old male (which was the father of the current female) passed away a year or two ago.
 
The hospital is currently caring for a six month old male reindeer which was found - unusually - in Helsinki. It’s thought it travelled at least 120km by itself.

It’s not clear if the individual is a forest reindeer or a domestic reindeer as with a young and malnourished animal it is difficult to determine by appearance, so this will need to be confirmed by DNA testing. It is hoped that the test result will be completed in the next few weeks at the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki.

 
Aramar said:
I imagine the fennec fox house is also open?
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Hämärä-house, which has the fennecs, is still closed due to renovations. We're in the middle of changing all the sand in the fennec fox enclosure and adding new plants. It's a dusty job, so meanwhile the fennecs are in a temporary enclosure in the staff-only area.

Monkey castle's indoor viewing area is also still closed, as we're closely monitoring the animal situation there since the group dynamics has changed after Kenza's passing. Hopefully we can open both spaces in few weeks.
 
Aramar said:
Sad news: the wild boar have been "removed" from the zoo due to noise problems with the construction site of the new bridge.

Villisika poistui Korkeasaaren lajistosta

I wonder what species will take over the enclosure once the noise levels come back to normal. I'd love to see Arctic foxes on the park.
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Awful news:(. I really liked the wild boars and I’m very sad to see them go. Also the bridge project won’t be done until 2027 so the enclosure might be empty for five years
 
Platypusboy said:
The reindeer that recently had been found in Helsinki turned out to be a Finnish forest reindeer. It left along with three other reindeer, (which were the ones that were born last year) to be released into the wild at Lauhavuori Nationalpark. So I'm guessing the zoo is down to only four reindeer now.

Orpo metsäpeura pääsi lajitovereiden seurassa Lauhanvuoren kansallispuistoon
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Is the 4 forest reindeer (ssp. fennicus) the minimum breeding group, do you know?
Those released are 2.2 (1.2 calves from Korkeasaari) and the stray male rescued and from the Wildlife Hospital.

The Lauhavuori NP already has a herd of 10: 1.4 breeding breeding adults with their 5 2 year olds.The MetsäpeuraLIFE restoration project will run into 2023 in their former habitat in southern Suomenselä. The zoo has contributed 11 forest reindeer to the project already.
 
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I love the reindeer in the zoo. I always have fun watching them. I wish the zoo had a better viewing area though. It's hard to take pics of them with all the fences. Something like what they have for the takins, wolverines, deer, etc would be nice.
 
Some new updates from a recent visit
- the urial enclosure is now shared between the urial and markhor
- a Ural owl was in the snowy owl aviary next to the reindeer enclosure
- the Barbary macaques were out for the first time this year (for me at least)
- the goitered gazelles were in the camel enclosure (usually they like to stay in their own enclosure)
- some construction was going on at the goitered gazelle enclosure
 
Aramar said:
I've found this document which shows some of the plans for the future, including the new entrance. I don't know if it is an official document or if plans have changed, but it looks good. I like the idea of turning the old ferry pier into a seal habitat.

https://dev.hel.fi/paatokset/media/att/b1/b1bbf97aaea2185a3dad43cccbcbd035e8b99a60.pdf
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This looks extremely interesting and i would be on board for this to happen. My only problem from it is the exclusion of markhor, since the plan only mention alpine ibex.
 
Platypusboy said:
This looks extremely interesting and i would be on board for this to happen. My only problem from it is the exclusion of markhor, since the plan only mention alpine ibex.
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Are markhor not with urial in the Himalayan Asian area?

It seems the important projects are the new entry complex and ferry / bridge reception area, the new Amazonia Hall (or renovation as the building is now in a sorry state). There is mention of connecting the Asian and African tropical areas and an islands concept with New Zealand, Madagascar, Australia exhibits. The new Alpine area and the Korpio - Finland habitat. If my Finnish is anything by OK.
 
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