Burgers' Zoo Burgers' Zoo news 2024

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Burgers confirmed the closure and demolition of the old birdhouse. They are planning a new ecodisplay, however this will not be built straight away
No surprise .... the Bird House was iconic! Its demolition and that a new display is forthcoming is an open goal / door thing. Really, what it will be is anybody's guess and it is no use speculating.
 
No surprise .... the Bird House was iconic! Its demolition and that a new display is forthcoming is an open goal / door thing. Really, what it will be is anybody's guess and it is no use speculating.
personally I wouldl ove soem kind of Austrila display, which also would include the existing kanagroo exhibit
 
Really, what it will be is anybody's guess and it is no use speculating.

I mean... Didn't we already see the permit requests?

The whole thing where it will have a large, mixed enclosure in the middle and they won't be cutting down the trees that are currently there? We already did quite a bit of speculating with that
 
I mean... Didn't we already see the permit requests?

The whole thing where it will have a large, mixed enclosure in the middle and they won't be cutting down the trees that are currently there? We already did quite a bit of speculating with that
If so, have they been placed on the forum yet?
 
If so, have they been placed on the forum yet?

Exciting news: Burgers' Zoo has applied for a permit to demolish the old pheasantry (the small bird house) and replace it with a new unknown exhibit. This means we can probably expect start of the works by the end of Summer/Autumn and an announcement between mid-June and then.

Provinciaal blad 2024, 6295 | Overheid.nl > Officiële bekendmakingen

It won't only be the bird house, the kangaroo enclosure and vulture aviary (and possibly the empty land between vultures and Mangrove/bird breeding centre) will also be part of the development. Some more information has become available: they won't cut down any tree and they will develop a new ecodisplay.

This means you have around 9000 square metres with quite a number of mature oaks. So another hall is rather unlikely, as is an area themed around ecosystems without many trees. There are still plenty of possibilities from a Belizean themed area complementing the Mangrove to a native area or a dry forest (Madagascar/Australia/Chaco) or even a more boreal forest zone. I don't see a Congo area happening here, that would make more sense on the other side of the great ape islands.

A quote from the permit application that roughly summarises what is known so far about this project:

'Royal Burgers' Zoo plans to demolish the Pheasantry. This was previously planned for 2020, but has been postponed due to Corona. The animals currently kept in the Pheasantry will be moved to other zoos. A new, modern animal enclosure will take its place, where several species live together in a simulated natural habitat (ecodisplay). Trees and watercourses will remain undisturbed. Demolition work will start in autumn 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2025.'

A Looopings article revealed that part of the reason of the demolition of the pheasantry is the presence of asbestos, molds, bad isolation and leakages. As well as issues with animal welfare and general safety.

Article (in Dutch):
Burgers' Zoo wil oud gedeelte slopen om plaats te maken voor nieuw verblijf
 
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This male (Gilou) has fathered 11 offspring in Burgers' Zoo, so his genes are well represented and the rhinos were on birth control. A new 13 year old male is expected soon and they will be allowed to breed again then. It is hoped Gilou will breed at his new home with 2 wild caught females that have never bred.

The 2 capybara are apparently also visible again, so their introduction behind the scenes was successful.
Isn't he born in Vincennes (Paris)?
 
Some small notes from today:
- The signage for white-eared catbirds was removed in the Bush. The zoo was down to 2 females (they are still listed on ZIMS). I don't know if it is temporary, but they were the only ones on show in Europe. This is a species that the zoo was very successful with for decades, so I hope they will return...
- A female blue-winged duck arrived and is on show with the resident male.
- The Arizona scorpion enclosure was empty and signage removed, so presumably it passed away.
- There was at least 1 very young four-eyed fish swimming with the adults in the Mangrove.

On another note: permission was granted to demolish the pheasantry, as well as the old flamingo house and the concrete flamingo pool. So that will likely commence soon.
 
I mean... Didn't we already see the permit requests?

The whole thing where it will have a large, mixed enclosure in the middle and they won't be cutting down the trees that are currently there? We already did quite a bit of speculating with that

Unknown what the future will bring about this part of the Parc.
Maybe, maybe something for Polar Bears as the had in the past, with seals as they had in the past, with some muskox.
Or, or, golden takins, blue sheeps, Marco polo sheeps, red gorals and red pandas. besides some peacocks and pheasants out of the Himalaya region.
Or, or, four enclosures for casuwaries, rock wallaby, birds and monitors out of that side of the Wallace line.
 
Permission was granted to demolish the current "verzorgingscentrum", the building which houses the vet clinic, animal kitchens, food storage and quarantine space among other functions. This building is now 50 years old and was long due for an update.

According to the permit, it will be demolished either this autumn or coming spring (the permit is valid until the end of 2026). Once the building is demolished, construction on the new building, which will be much more energy efficient, will start and is expected to be finished in 2026. There are no details yet as to how this building will look and where exactly it will be located (it could theoretically move to the current empty space behind the Mangrove, freeing space for animal exhibits at the current location).

Provinciaal blad 2024, 16956 | Overheid.nl > Officiële bekendmakingen

What is unclear is how all these functions will be temporarily replaced, it is possible the current Panter Plaza (next to the restaurant) is eyed as a temporary replacement, as an application was made to create offices there, but this application was denied for now. I guess we will find out within the next months ;)
 
Some updates from a visit yesterday (and other snippets). Overall the zoo looks dormant (like it has been for most of the past 5 years). There seem to be some bigger projects in the pipeline, so it is to be hoped they will finally go ahead next year and refill some enclosures again with permanent residents.

- A new species is currently being introduced to the large coral tank. It is a boxfish (Ostracion spec), most likely a yellow boxfish, but I am no fish expert and it is quite hard to have a proper look at the introduction cage.
- The Mexican housefinch aren't free-ranging anymore in the Desert, but are still on show in the small canyon.
- The hispid cotton rat exhibit and the milk snake terrarium in the tunnel have been refurbished, currently the Colorado river toad exhibit is empty for renovations.
- A second tree porcupine male has arrived, but it didn't get along with the resident male, so it now inhabits the former bobcat enclosure together with surplus socorro doves.
- They are busy with demolishing the interior of the pheasantry. The demolition of the whole building had already been approved. But last week they reaoplied for the same approval. That might sound strange, but probably has to do with the latest legal developments around emissions of nitrogen oxides and ammonium. Both are far too high for most protected nature areas, so for the past 5 years construction projects had to go through quite some loops and very recently one of the shortcuts has been closed down and all permits of the last 5 years will need to be reviewed....
- It appears as if there are no more giant hermit crabs in the Mangrove, the big crab in the Ocean is still there.
- The common ground doves in the Desert had a great breeding year: early in the year 5 pairs were introduced and according to ZIMS there are now 40 common ground doves at the zoo, they are certainly everywhere.

Some new news from the latest Harpij magazine:
- Behind the scenes an orange-fronted fruit dove fledged.
- The last remaining porcupinefish passed away.
 
Such a gorgeous species! I assume they will eventually be kept in the Desert.

They are a species that would fit in in the desert, seeing its a hot spot for Burgers' Zoo's smaller passerines. But seeing as it's a Central American species, it could really go in any of the indoor ecodisplays...

But yeah, Desert is most likely
 
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