Zoo Brno ZOO Brno

Next monday, the chimpanzee group (Fáben, Gina, Maryša) will leave Brno and move to Hodonin zoo. This is just a temporary measure because Brno will start with reconstruction of their house which will take at least 2 years.

It is open question if this group returns to Brno because the zoo director would gladly get rid of them and obtain a breeding group instead. But this depends if a new home for the old group can be found. They can´t stay in Hodonin long-term because they will live there very very cramped (in smaller space than anything you can imagine) in the monkey house while occupying half of the space that current Hodonins chimpanzees use.
 
The zoo received 20 La Palma pupfish (Cyprinodon longidorsalis) - a small Mexican species already extinct in the wild. They will be kept off-show unfortunately.

Rio Cauca Caecilians (Typhlonectes natans), an aquatic species kept on show in Exotarium house, have successfuly bred.

The zoo is looking for a new head mammal curator. You need degree in zoology or related subject, fluency in English, C2 in Czech (native speaker). Salary 1000 - 1350 euro before tax per month.
 
In June 2 Keas (Nestor notabilis) hatched, a first time breeding for Brno Zoo!

In July a 2-year old male Chapman's zebra (Equus quagga chapmani) was send to Sergengeti-Park Hodenhagen.

In July atleast 3 New Zealand shovelers (Spatula rhynchotis variegata) hatched!

In August 2 Red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) were send to Khingan State Nature Reserve to be released into the wild.

In August a female Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) was born.

Sources:
Instagram of Zoo Brno (16/06/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQLEQ2kgklu/
Instagram of Zoo Brno (09/07/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRGWlZ3rdZG/
Instagram of Zoo Brno (15/07/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRWNiiRA08E/
Instagram of Zoo Brno (04/08/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSJQcFNLszC/
Instagram of Zoo Brno (04/08/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSJ2m10r_AM/
 
The zoo advertises new winter "meet an animal" special program with Komodo dragon and common brushtail possum. It piqued my interest so I checked - for 60 euro you can spend 1 hour chatting with the keeper while you help her/him clean an (empty) enclosure and prepaire enrichment items. No direct contact with the animal.

While checking other paid services, I saw they still offer pony rides for children (2 euro). Prague or Zlin have relatively recently cancelled all pony/camel rides on animal wellfare grounds.

Here a pic of Brno´s ponies (off duty). Notice a keeper with her two dogs. 50% of Czech zoos allow well-behaved dogs entry on their grounds. And it includes not only dogs of visitors, but also their employees can bring their dogs with them daily on the job. One of very few perks for their very underpaid staff.

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Source of this photo
 
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In july, three common ostriches came (they are in African exhibit with giraffes) and was opened new exhibit with native snakes (common adder and smooth snake).
Also, building/reconstruction of chimpanzee indoor exhibit started, it should be finished in two years. According to press release, space for animals will double.
 
The zoo has unveiled their new playground. However this time it´s not for children. It´s an agility training park for visitors dogs.
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It´s a weird item to invest into. The zoo has so much unused potential (surprisingly low attendance despite being located within second largest city in country, with still a lot of empty space within their areal), but this doesnt look like something that can attract additional audience.
 
The zoo has a new director (after 25 years with the last director). Radana Dunkelová. Worked at the zoo for a few years already as an international coordinator, but main experience is from non-profit scene. Lets see how she will be able to handle future investments and general everyday stuff. She seems to talk a lot about likable themas like animal wellfare. While the zoo itself is economicaly not doing well and needs good throughroug shake-up - also among its current staff.
 
Jana said:
surprisingly low attendance despite being located within second largest city in country
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I visited this zoo and I really felt my legs. Families with small children or pushchairs must feel the same.

The first thing I would invest would be: get more of these funny electrical trams, sell zoo tickets at the main street, and drive people through the river bridge, smaller streets, the zoo entrance, all the way to the top of the hill where African animals are located.
 
Perhaps the zoo could be advertised at or near the main station. I visited the Tourist Information Bureau nearby and asked "Have you got any information about the zoo?" The reply was "It's got lots of animals." I was told the right bus to get, but it wasn't obvious which bus stop is nearest the zoo.
 
I think that one factor (though not main) contributing to its relative low attendance may be geography - Brno could be too close to other zoos, at least some of them more popular (Jihlava, Hodonin, Vyškov Bratislava, Olomouc... not to mention Zlin and Schonbrunn)
There are of course other problems, like already mentioned geography of zoo itself (some people may be discouraged by hill) and transportation (small parking lot)
 
Over the years I spoke with many locals and too many of them repeated that they dont visit their own zoo at all but travel elsewhere (Jihlava, Zlin, Olomouc, Vienna etc.) because they simply find Brno bad for animals and boring for visitors. Yes, climbing a hill was also mentioned. But here people of all ages boycott their own zoo, with very moderate ticket prices, while easily accessible by city public transport, for decades.

Brno has so much potential to grow its attendance. City with suburbs is over 0,5 mio and another at least 1 mio people live within 1 hour by car or train. Brno has excellent train and bus connections, a highway joint point and large university crowd. If the zoo was of good quality, it could even steal people from nothern Vienna! If rural Zlin can bag 700k, why is place like Brno happy with just 330k?
 
I visited Brno and Zlin in a span of a two days this Summer. I am looking forward to return at the later, but not so much at the former. Brno looks like locked in time, while the top 5 Czech zoos continues to develop. The big forest area have a lot of potential, but can be boring as well. The main reasons for my visit were Javan Ferret Badgers and Kamchatka Brown Bear, but the zoo have some nice parts too. The new Chimpanzee facility, Beringia, Lion exhibit exc.
 
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