Yesterday, I visited Zoo Wuppertal for the first time, and I must say it was sadly quite disappointing. We arrived without checking the website first, only to discover upon arrival that both cat houses and the Amazon house were closed because of cowpox — which was also stated on a sign by the entrance to the park. Understandable, but this sadly resulted in us not seeing any other cats than tigers, so no Indian leopard, no Asian golden cat, and no Gordon's wild cat.
The birdhouse was a focal point for us, yet there was no indication of its closure online or at the park entrance. Nevertheless, we were met with closed doors to most of it, with only the free-flight section accessible. A conversation with a zookeeper revealed that the remainder of the birdhouse was basically permanently closed due to it not being worth keeping going anymore with heating, etc. He also told us that the two old Vermillion flycatchers are off show, and that silver-throated tanager no longer is kept at the park.
The Pacific eider (the last on show in Europe) was nowhere to be seen either, and Zootierliste does not mention where in the park it is or where it used to be kept.
In addition to these disappointments, we were unable to spot the yellow-backed duiker, and the Baird's tapir seems to be kept behind the scenes right now because it is infected with cowpox (according to someone on Facebook).
Though we missed many of the animals we hoped to see, there were still some fortunate sightings, such as the Pacific hornero, Bay-headed tanager, African pygmy-goose, Golden-backed weaver, Eastern chipmunk, and Rana-de Arbol de San Martin frog.
Because of all this, we were done with the park relatively fast and decided to make the most of the day and also visit Duisburg Zoo the same day for some more animal sightings. Despite the setbacks, I'm looking forward to returning to Zoo Wuppertal in the future, hoping for better timing and more exhibits to be open.
I'm mostly writing here to advise other people to wait some time before visiting the park, especially if you are looking forward to any of these species!
