Ähtäri Zoo Ahtari zoo

TeaLovingDave said:
Can't say I am all that surprised about this one:

Cash-strapped Finnish zoo may have to return giant pandas to China

And to think that certain members of the forum were recently insisting elsewhere that claims that the cost of giant pandas is a financial burden on a zoo in the long term were vile calumnies... ;) :p
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I have never believed that the Ahtari Zoo past present or future would ever be able to bear the burden of the ex situ conservation financial loan deal.

BTW: Bear with us that the millions generated by the Chinese Govt. have and had been pumped into the giant panda conservation program that saw the species rebound from around 800-1,000 individuals to 1,864+-+++ 2024!).

NOTA BENE: I do not subscribe to the frequent derisory or uncooth insinuations vis a vis PR of China and I would hope people would refrain from doing so. That PR of China has a different system of Govt. and a different political system is not for us to applaud nor scold over ... here! In effect, it is IMO an unhealthy mix of envy and hypocrisy on the part of the Western world and North nations in the face of the economic and socio-political success of the PR Chinese. I would say deal with it or ...!
 
Two news stories in English from YLE, the Finnish public service broadcaster

After eating up a fortune and failing to breed, pandas head home

According to the zoo, the decision to repatriate the animals is the sum of numerous developments. It was influenced by factors such as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a decline in tourist numbers, inflation and rising interest rates following the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In addition to returning the pandas, Ähtäri Zoo has announced it is planning to apply for debt restructuring.
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Panda repatriation was mutually agreed, says Chinese Embassy

In a written response to Yle, the diplomatic mission said Finland and China mutually agreed on the animals returning home.

In its message, the embassy said that it had attempted to help the struggling zoo by encouraging Chinese companies in Finland to make donations to it. Additionally, China said it has supported the zoo's debt restructuring, which Ähtäri Zoo this week announced it was planning to seek.

The feeding, housing and care of the two pandas, plus the species protection fee, cost around 1.5 million euros a year. An adult panda eats around 12 kilos of bamboo every day, which had to be shipped to Ähtäri all the way from the Netherlands. Bamboo alone has cost the zoo around 100,000 euros a year.
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What a complete disaster this Giant Panda 'adventure' has been for Ahtari Zoo. I suppose that the timing has been awful, with the pandas arriving in 2018 and then attendance was hit hard during the pandemic. At least the zoo can get rid of the pandas and concentrate on the future.
 
Mymmeli said:
Ähtäri zoo has a new specie - thorold's deer.
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Really nice and fitting addition!


snowleopard said:
What a complete disaster this Giant Panda 'adventure' has been for Ahtari Zoo. I suppose that the timing has been awful, with the pandas arriving in 2018 and then attendance was hit hard during the pandemic. At least the zoo can get rid of the pandas and concentrate on the future.
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I guess the writings had been on the wall prior to even starting with giant pandas at Ähtäri Zoo. It is a decent regionally important zoo, just nothing major like Helsinki's Korkeasaaren Zoo.

I wish they would have stuck with Nordic and temperate species fitting the climate and athmosphere....of the zoo. I do hope they can hark back to those days. Perhaps the addition of Thorold's deer and perhaps some other high profile carnivores and mountain species will do the zoo more justice!
 
snowleopard said:
What a complete disaster this Giant Panda 'adventure' has been for Ahtari Zoo. I suppose that the timing has been awful, with the pandas arriving in 2018 and then attendance was hit hard during the pandemic. At least the zoo can get rid of the pandas and concentrate on the future.
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We visited the zoo in 2023 spring. Nothing was open. No restaurants, no even a gift shop. We, three adults with siblings with small kids, wanted to buy a ton of panda stuff for kids: nothing to buy.

Hotel next to was selling something: post cards mostly (no special stamps or anything).

I mean. If this was the level of merchandice, what did they seriously expected?

There was lot of families with small kids visiting in the park as well then. Everyone was dissappointed. You can not even enter Ranua zoo without the shop. So this was a very big dissapointment for our group at least.
 
Ähtäri Zoo has confirmed that the pandas have now returned to China. Lumi and Pyry's journey went ahead as planned despite the snowy weather and they are in perfect Health, the zoo said in a press release. The pandas reached their new home at a conservation centre in China on Saturday afternoon.

Ähtäri Zoo said it did not disclose the exact timing of the transfer to ensure a peaceful departure for the pandas. Some Finnish journalists have questioned this desicion, comparing it to the time when Tampere’s Särkänniemi amusement park sent its dolphins to Greece secretly during the night in 2016 (which lead to a full on media circus and communication crisis that all Finns still remember).

Sources: YLE 23.11.2024 ”Lumi and Pyry return to China” & YLE 22.11.2024 ”Toimittajalta: Ähtärin eläintarha tekee saman virheen kuin Särkänniemi delfiinien kanssa”
 
The old panda enclosures will have new inhabitants, as spectacled bears (three males) will move there. No exact dates have been revealed when the bears are visible to the public, but it will happen once the bears have settled in their new home.

The Ähtäri Zoo's panda house was sold earlier this spring to the Vieraile ja välitär ry ("Visit and Care Association", basically a support organisation for the zoo), which has announced that it will turn the property into a centre for environmental education and the conservation of endangered species.

Source: HS 11.4.2025
 
aeemeli said:
The old panda enclosures will have new inhabitants, as spectacled bears (three males) will move there. No exact dates have been revealed when the bears are visible to the public, but it will happen once the bears have settled in their new home
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That’s quite an unexpected development, I wonder where they are coming from.
 
Tao, the first of spectacled bears, can be seen from 7th of June onwards.

Tao cames from Thory Zoo Safar, France. The arrival of the two other bears haven't been yet announced.
 
Three lesser white-fronted goose (anser erythropus) has hatched in Ähtäri.

To ensure best possible start for the chicks the water fowl enclosure has been closed from the visitors.
 
Ähtäri Zoo has lost their brown bear matriarch, Mimmi. She was born in 1991, so she had a long and full life. According to the zoo, she was a mother of several brown bears in European zoos.

She is also the mother of all four of their male brown bears: Kasper, Jesper and Joonatan (triplets born 2016) and their older brother Jaki. Bears are one of the most iconic animals of Ähtäri zoo and they have had brown bears sinse the very beginning of the zoo.

They have now united all the bears in one singular large caged area and they seem to enjoy their bachelor living conditions.
 
The owner of Ähtäri Zoo, the city of Ähtäri, has announced that the zoo has filed for bankruptcy.

"We are striving to find a successor for the operations, but it is also possible that they will cease permanently," says CEO Arja Väliaho.

The city of Ähtäri states in a press release that the companies (Ähtäri Zoo and hotel Mesikämmen located next to it) have adjusted their operations but have not been able to balance their financial situation. The aim is to keep both the zoo and the hotel open during the school autumn break weeks (basically the next 2-3 weeks).

According to the city of Ähtäri, the final decision on the continuation of operations will be made by the bankruptcy trustee after the court has ruled on the bankruptcy. The city promises to provide information on the matter as soon as further details are available.

Source: YLE 10.10.2025
 
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Ähtäri Zoo will close to the public this Sunday.

Negotiations on taking care of the animals are underway with the Vieraile ja välität ry association.
This is the same association that purchased the panda house in spring 2025, and the association's chairman is also the curator of the Ähtäri Zoo.

The association's current goal is to secure animal care in Ähtäri, and make it possible for the zoo to continue operations in the future (if someone happens to buy it) by keeping the park and animals in good condition. The association does not currently have the funds to continue providing care in the long term, so they have launched a fundraising campaign.

Source: Yle 22.10.2025
 
First animals have been transported out from Ähtäri. They were 11 Finnish forest reindeers and they were transported into a rewilding enclosure. Part of them would have been rewilded even without the bankruptcy, so this was a reasonable action to be done.

Source
 
Ähtäri Zoo has been sold in price of 1 euro to Vieraile ja välität ry.

It is owned by (in example) former employees of the zoo and some of the zoos workers have announced that they'll continue to work even if not being paid.
 
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