Best Cheetah enclosure in the Benelux

[felis silvestris]

This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Cheetahs in the Benelux. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to list the enclosures in order of what they think is the best.

The Snow Leopard and Clouded Leopard threads are closing tomorrow, so if you want to vote or give an opinion on the exhibits do it soon before they close.

Pairi Daiza (South African)



Monde Sauvage (South African)



Pakawi (South African)



Burgers (South African)



Beekse Bergen (South African)



Dierenrijk (South African)



Overloon (South African)



Planckendael (Sudan)



Photo credits to @lintworm @snowleopard @Ricky Hans @Toddy @KevinB @Mr Gharial @vogelcommando

 

[KevinB]

I was at Dierenrijk last Sunday, and the exhibit shown above isn't the current cheetah exhibit, the cheetah recently moved to a new exhibit. I have added two photos of it below.

 

[felis silvestris]

I was at Dierenrijk last Sunday, and the exhibit shown above isn't the current cheetah exhibit, the cheetah recently moved to a new exhibit. I have added two photos of it below.

Ok, thanks for letting me know.

 

[snowleopard]

Of all the big cats, it's quite common for Cheetahs to have above average exhibits in zoos. They simply need a large grassy field, preferably with a raised portion somewhere in the enclosure. My vote would go to Beekse Bergen, with its spacious on-show exhibit and more than a dozen Cheetahs behind the scenes (or at least that was the case when I visited in 2019). I toured all 8 of these zoos on that European trip.

 

[KevinB]

My vote goes to the Beekse Bergen, given that they have three large and well laid-out public cheetah exhibits (one on the car safari that is also a drive-through, I posted pictures of this one in the gallery in April), the one shown above and another one on the walking safari, as well as several more off-show exhibits, and the fact that they have a succesfull breeding group. As the EEP coordinator for the southern cheetah they set a good example here, and I certainly appreciate that.

The exhibit at Burgers' Zoo is also very nice, and I also like the exhibit for bachelor brothers at Planckendael (of which only a part is show above) quite a bit.

 

[lintworm]

Hard not to give this one to Beekse Bergen, given their excellent breeding set up and multiple good enclosures, which ensure you get to see cheetah.

Burgers' has a large on show enclosure, but often only a single individual is on display, so not really an enthralling experience. There are multiple smaller off show enclosures too, but it doesn't seem to match the Beekse Bergen set up.

 

[Mr Gharial]

Beekse Bergen makes masterful use of their environment, being the Dutch dry forest. Most of their exhibits resemble the real African savanna because, quite simply, the Netherlands just looks like that sometimes. Because of their location and the style of their exbibits, Beekse Bergen and Apenheul have some of the best exhibits in the Benelux. In all honesty, it's barely a competition.

You can see this same phenomenon in almost all Dutch zoos in at least one exhibit (Burgers' Safari, Aquazoo's seal enclosure, Ouwehands' Bear forest, etc).

Burgers' Cheetah exhibit, in this case, is a close second. Because of its size and environment. Held back by the fact that it is in a "regular" forest instead of a "dry" forest, and because of the lesser quality of the behind-the-scenes enclosures, as Lintworm already mentioned

 

[felis silvestris]

Score update. Beekse Bergen are far head of the rest of the vote with over half. This might be due to having multiple large breeding enclosures, offshow and onshow and drive-through and walk-past.

 

[felis silvestris]

Poll closed. Congratulations to Beekse Bergen for having the best cheetah enclosure in the Benelux. Their multiple large breeding enclosures, natural dry forest environment and drive through and walk past enclosures gave it a high amount of the vote. This is their third win so far.

Beekse Bergen: 81.5%
Burgers: 12.5%
Pakawi: 6.3%