Helsinki Zoo Korkeasaari Zoo, Helsinki

Giant pandas for Helsinki

I follow news of Korkeasaari Zoo but this one passed me by:

Helsinki zookeeper makes bid to adopt Chinese pandas | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi

Helsinki zookeeper makes bid to adopt Chinese pandas

Finland’s wintry climate could make ideal breeding conditions for bears left homeless after China’s 2008 earthquake, claims the director of Korkeasaari Zoo. Jukka Salo says Chinese authorities have so far responded positively to his proposal.

The director of Helsinki’s Korkeasaari Zoo, Jukka Salo, says he has been in discussion with Chinese authorities about bringing pandas to be housed and cared for in Finland.

”The idea has been floated,” Salo said. “We’ve been carrying out specific exploratory research in partnership with the so-called panda authorities in China,” he added.

Salo said that after the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, many of China’s pandas had to be relocated and are now temporarily living in parts of the country that are far too warm. Therefore China is looking to rehouse the bears in places with cooler climates.

”Pandas like cool air and even wintry conditions, even though they don’t hibernate,” Salo said.

For this reason the zookeeper says he put in a request to China to find out if Finland could adopt some of the pandas.

In recent years China has opened up its panda policy. In the last three years one panda has been transferred to a zoo in Belgium, one to France and one to Scotland.

The transfers have been made with the aim of finding cooler climates where pandas can breed naturally – and perhaps more successfully than in their current habitats in China.

Salo says that the response from China so far has been positive.

He estimates that if his dream of bringing pandas to Finland is realised, it will take at least two to three years before the bears arrive.
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Might be a good opportunity for the zoo to increase visitor levels (including from neighbouring countries) and income (and further improve the zoo), although obviously that doesn't always occur when pandas are brought in. Hope they consider this carefully to ensure it makes financial sense.
 
In recent years China has opened up its panda policy. In the last three years one panda has been transferred to a zoo in Belgium, one to France and one to Scotland.

The transfers have been made with the aim of finding cooler climates where pandas can breed naturally – and perhaps more successfully than in their current habitats in China.
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well this part of the article is just nonsense. If the zoo really wanted to help what they are claiming then it would be far more useful to provide money for rebuilding the panda centres in China!
 
Here is an interesting old picture I found on Flickr showing sun bears at the zoo:

14530559470_3a9ae114f9_z.jpg


https://www.flickr.com/photos/teponteppo/14530559470
 
Wow, that's a lot of Sun Bears! :eek:

This looks rather like the enclosure that held baboons and now has Japanese Macaques? I can't think of any other similar exhibits at the zoo.
 
Either that or the current brown bear enclosure which according to an old map I have seen used to be divided into three enclosures.
 
Shirokuma said:
Either that or the current brown bear enclosure which according to an old map I have seen used to be divided into three enclosures.
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Ah, that would make more sense - the indoor housing at the now macaque enclosure seemed small for baboons and would have been impractically tiny for five sun bears I think. Although it could have changed of course. But that bear exhibit could have been three old bear enclosures in the past, do you know what it held on the map you saw?
 
I intended to post this link a while ago actually but forgot all about it.

It's a thesis by the designer of the current zoo map and is all in Finnish but there are some interesting (low res unfortunately) old maps of the zoo. I speak a tiny bit of Finnish and am aiming to translate the document but that is a long term project.

https://www.taik.fi/optika/index.php?id=839

Click 'Lataa PDF' to download.

Looking at it again, in the past it seems to have been several enclosures.

They definitely had polar bears (which have been held in other parts of the zoo, most notably the still present 19th century pit) and brown bears there too.
 
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AdvoCat said:
ps. I asked about the Sun bears .......
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"Karhulinna" the bear exhibit was opened on 1952 since then there has been Sun bears until 1995 when the last female Sun bear died at age of 30.
Originally Karhulinna was divided in to five sections but soon after it was made in to three sections housing Sun bears, Brown bears and Polar bears.
 
Thanks advocat. Did the zoo have a policy of getting rid of its more tropical megafauna (zebras, sun bears, etc), so they could focus on large species that can be kept outside year round? I don' think they have any African hoofstock now, just northern species? This contrasts with Tallinn Zoo for example, which has its tropical hoofstock in off-display barns over winter.
 
Yes, you are quite right. Korkeasaari is focusing more and more for the nothern winter tolerant species and for endangered species.
 
Sanna Hellström is new director for the zoo. She has been politician in Helsinki for the Green party for many years! She has studied zoology at university too. She will replace Jukka Salo who has gone after a receipt scandal.
 
A young female Amur tiger arrived from Nordens Ark to Helsinki on 22th of October.
 
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It looks like the zoo no longer keeps North American mountain goats. The flat part of their enclosure now houses wild boar.

 
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That's a shame. They aren't listed as holders of RMG on Zootierliste anymore.

In fact there seems to be very few holders, is this population sustainable? When was hte last import from the US?
 
Mongolian wild horse (two years old mare) travelled to Prague to join a new herd.
Later next Spring they are going to be release in to the wild at Mongolian Khomyn Tal area.
 
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