Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Today I visited the delightful Voliere Zurich.
This wonderful little collection, who can trace its origins to a rescue centre for native wildlife in 1902, is now a sizeable bird house of sorts, with delightful aviaries for a selection of birds, including a few rarities, both indoors and outdoors (although the latter was sadly closed during my visit). The original rescue centre still remains, and to this day it rescues and rehabilitates more native birds than any other institution in Switzerland, according to their website.
The Voliere is free to enter, and, although tiny, is very good, speciose and significant for a free display. I visited with family members, who believe that such things (small, free-to-enter zoos in public parks across Europe) are relatively common in Europe, even mentioning a German cafe they once saw equipped with an aviary that featured flamingos, although sadly they cannot remember the exact location.
This got me thinking, how many of these exist across Europe? Small zoos, in public parks or other such areas, that are free to enter and decently big in scale (more than just a couple of aviaries). My local ‘zoo’ might actually meet this criteria - the small farm in Crystal Palace Park has a sizeable Exotics Room, with Meerkats and Laughing Kookaburras, although the domestic focus seems to make it feel less like a zoological collection in the same sense as Voliere Zurich.
I would be very interested and grateful if other members can inform me of any other prominent examples of this across Europe, and is this as common a thing on the continent as I am lead to believe.
This wonderful little collection, who can trace its origins to a rescue centre for native wildlife in 1902, is now a sizeable bird house of sorts, with delightful aviaries for a selection of birds, including a few rarities, both indoors and outdoors (although the latter was sadly closed during my visit). The original rescue centre still remains, and to this day it rescues and rehabilitates more native birds than any other institution in Switzerland, according to their website.
The Voliere is free to enter, and, although tiny, is very good, speciose and significant for a free display. I visited with family members, who believe that such things (small, free-to-enter zoos in public parks across Europe) are relatively common in Europe, even mentioning a German cafe they once saw equipped with an aviary that featured flamingos, although sadly they cannot remember the exact location.
This got me thinking, how many of these exist across Europe? Small zoos, in public parks or other such areas, that are free to enter and decently big in scale (more than just a couple of aviaries). My local ‘zoo’ might actually meet this criteria - the small farm in Crystal Palace Park has a sizeable Exotics Room, with Meerkats and Laughing Kookaburras, although the domestic focus seems to make it feel less like a zoological collection in the same sense as Voliere Zurich.
I would be very interested and grateful if other members can inform me of any other prominent examples of this across Europe, and is this as common a thing on the continent as I am lead to believe.
