Construction of new parrot aviaries - Reconstruction of old bird-of-prey aviaries, 2019-04-20

Its strange that they seemingly value the historical value enough to recreate them, but not enough to keep them in the original location. Are they using the original materials?

@DelacoursLangur

I typed out some information here.
Construction of new parrot aviaries - Reconstruction of old bird-of-prey aviaries, 2019-04-20 - ZooChat

The original of these aviaries was used to build the new outdoor ape exhibits, the aviaries are being reconstructed in the zoo's expansion area which was realized by buying and demolishing old city houses.

As for original materials: the bluestone and rock work were salvaged and are (restored) original materials.

This was very interesting and informative, thank you. I always appreciate when zoos integrate old materials are architecture into new developments, it adds so much to the class and aesthetic of the exhibit.

@DelacoursLangur At Antwerp it is not a choice, almost the entire zoo is a classified heritage site, so they pretty much have to integrate and work around the old architecture.

I would love to visit sometime, I love old zoo architecture so aside from the poor elephant exhibit it seems worth the trip!

@DelacoursLangur

The elephant exhibit is probably my least favorite at Antwerp, or at least right up there in the top five. While the other megafauna exhibits at Antwerp (hippos, Cape buffalos, lions) are pretty decent the elephant exhibit is just so outdated, even if they now only keep adolescent bulls for a few years. Antwerp should really stop keeping elephants, as soon as possible.

I would say Antwerp is probably one of the best old city zoos and is definitely worth a visit. I personally have grown a lot more fond of the zoo with the developments of the last few years. I've been coming there for over 20 years but I have come to appreciate the zoo much more in the last few years.

@KevinB Is there a way to expand the existing elephant facility? In terms of indoor holding/outdoor yards. Any surrounding lawn is a prime suspect for expansion in my book.

@Wyman There pretty much isn't.

They cannot use the lawn and planted areas as the gardens are also part of the protected heritage site that almost the entire zoo is, minus the recent expansion area where the restaurant, these aviaries and part of the savanna aviary now sit. Hence they cannot change the laws and the planted areas without permission from the heritage agency and within certain limits. Turning a lawn into an elephant exhibit probably would not be permitted.

The only possibility that I see would be to sacrifice the giraffe/zebra paddock and indoor areas, but I do not think that would be good idea and it might well not be technically feasible.

Personally I believe it would be the absolute best choice for Antwerp to stop keeping elephants altogether and to use the space for other species. They have enough megafauna species as it is that they could probably do without elephants and not suffer in terms of visitor numbers or revenues.