A new zoo in France?

Tamandua56

Well-Known Member
By November 2028, traveling circuses in France will no longer be allowed to house wild animals, including felines.

Cedric Zanello, a former zookeeper at Amnéville and Beauval Zoos, hopes to open a sanctuary by 2028 to accommodate felines from circuses, trafficking, or administrative seizures. Among the species he hopes to house are lions, tigers, caracals, servals, and raccoons.
He has named this project "Oural," which, apparently, will not be a sanctuary open to the general public, but will only be open to visitors during workshops or guided tours.

For the moment, a 5-hectare plot of land has been found near Sancy, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. However, the agreement with the landowner has not yet been finalized, and an online crowdfunding campaign has been launched to raise funds to develop the land and eventually maintain the animals.

Sources: Grand Est. Il veut créer un sanctuaire pour offrir une "retraite digne" aux tigres et lions sauvés des cirques
"Leur offrir une retraite digne" : en Lorraine, Cédric Zanello veut créer un sanctuaire pour grands félins - ici
Project website: Sanctuaire Oural - Organisation de Protection Animale
 
The location is close to Amnéville, which is well established in the region. I hope for them that they find their public and the money needed to bring the project to life.
For the moment, crowdfunding is not proving very successful.
 
lions and tigers and raccoons.....oh my!

To an American- hoping to exhibit raccoons is just extremely funny
In EU the Raccoons are classified as invasive, so the zoos collect still some of these animals as they are allowed to do it : some of them are former or seized pets, other have been rescued but don't be released in the wild for obvious reasons (the only alternative would be the euthanization of the animals). It may last for a long time, as various parks (Beauval, La Tanière) are still receiving Raccoons ; they are much probably neutered (in Beauval, a park that I know very well, there hasn't been a single Raccoon birth for nearly one decade in spite of a large group kept in the small carnivore area).
I add that the forests of Lorraine and North-Eastern France are full of introduced Raccoons (as stated by the studies of the public forest operator "ONF") even if these animals remain shy from the humans and don't live in the middle of the cities like in the USA or Canada.
 
lions and tigers and raccoons.....oh my!

To an American- hoping to exhibit raccoons is just extremely funny
You say that but as someone who has visited your country once or twice a year for over a decade, and is on constant lookout for wildlife, I am still to see a wild racoon. I have seen them in Panama, though.
 
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