Excuse my ignorance, but what is the relationship between Tierpark Berlin and Zoo Berlin? Are they part of one zoological society (such as ZSL or KMDA), both owned by the city itself, or mostly unrelated? I know that they are not of a common origin with the Tierpark having been founded on the opposite side of the Wall, but from the similarity of their logos, websites etc I have always suspected some sort of close link, but couldn't find any information on it online.
They used to be rivals with the Zoo always being a private institution (with stocks traded at the stock exchange, although it is more about control than profit as the zoo always was a non-profit organization) and the Tierpark founded and owned by the GDR government. After the wall came down, the Tierpark was integrated into the Zoo and they started to take out what they wanted to have and often couldn't get that easily for political or other reasons before (e.g. snakes for the Aquarium). They also decided the Tierpark didn't need any new modern enclosures for their apes and would give them up, whereas the Zoo kept all of their 4 species, similar for the pinnipeds and so on. While they started to develop different approaches and collections the tough decisions (one collection had to give up a popular species) as well as the generous ones (one collection was allowed to also keep a popular species even though it meant less exclusive species to attract visitors to both places) virtually always ended up favouring the Zoo over the Tierpark.
As an example, when the new director Mr. Knieriem took over, he suggested the Zoo may give up ONE of their FOUR ape species so it could be relocated to the Tierpark and the Zoo could give better conditions to the remaining THREE (it could even have been chimpanzees or bonobos, so many visitors wouldn't even notice a loss). Rumours say he got really agitated calls or visits by wealthy zoo donors who wouldn't have any of it. Officially they found a way around: When the Tierpark later published their "Master-/ Ziel und Entwicklungs-Plan" they announced planning with the orang sub-species the Zoo doesn't keep. Even this small solution has not been mentioned along their latest updates on their plans.
Another example: When the Zoo got their Giant Pandas, Knieriem suggested offspring could be kept in the Tierpark once it grew enough but didn't need to be sent back. He also mentioned, the Tierpark could get Koalas instead. After all, the Tierpark had been the place which really needed more visitors, whereas the zoo often was really crowded. But neither idea was ever as much as mentioned again, not even when the zoo indeed had panda cubs.
The only exception I can think of are the polar bears. But the zoo never ever announced their plans, even though they had communicated they wanted to make a definitive decision about whether or nor they wanted to return some to the zoo.
I also heard about complaints why Tierpark stuff earned similar wages, when the zoo brought in much more money from tickets, donations etc. (while the Tierpark in fact never even received any money out of the zoo's funds or revenue, they got their funds for running costs from the Berlin senate which in turn tried to influence the fate of the park without ever giving them needed funds for new investments).
All of this only changed somewhat, when the new administration managed to secure funds for strategic investments in the Tierpark and immediately started getting far more visitors and own revenue. Visitor numbers increased by about 80 percent (up to 1,8 mio in 2023) and the percentage of public funds of the total revenue dropped by double digits. Only time can tell, if they can keep up the positive momentum.
Personally, I believe the Tierpark has long-term potential for 1,5 - 2 mio visitors, if they were to get their elephants, rhinos and lions back (all of this is planned) as well as at least one ape species (preferably an exclusive one but even if they could get as much as an additional subspecies) and one type of seal in attractive exhibits. But even without any of that, they managed to get on a track of success silencing most of the contemptuous remarks for now.
