ZooParc de Beauval Zooparc de Beauval news 2025

Cat-Man said:
That’s an interesting development. As far as I understand it they had previously had plans for Dolphins, and were shelved after the French government banned them from being kept in captivity - can anybody confirm if this is true?

If this does go ahead, I expect they’ll have top, top class facilities, rivalling the lagoon in Harderwijck, which is widely considered the best dolphin enclosure in the world.
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France did ban the keeping of cetaceans in captivity under the 2021 Animal Welfare Law (LOI n° 2021-1539 Art. L. 413-12.-I). However, the law was later amended to allow certain facilities to retain dolphins if they could demonstrate a genuine role in scientific research. This is how Planète Sauvage was able to keep its group of bottlenose dolphins and even take in additional animals from Parc Astérix after that park closed its dolphin facility.

According to Le Parisien, this agreement isn’t about reviving past dolphin show plans but rather an emergency solution requested by the French government. In line with the demands of the authorities and NGOs, the dolphins would not be bred or interact with the public. The facility is meant as a transitional step before their eventual transfer to a sea sanctuary. That said, nothing has been decided yet, and it seems reasonable to assume Beauval will negotiate some form of visitor access as part of the deal.
 
Although I am very interested to see what Beauval does and I believe they can create a pretty nice environment for the dolphins I also think this is just so stupid... I mean there are parks out there currently willing to bring in Marineland dolphins but they have to build a completely new pool? And this is also gonna take long time, minimum 2 years... We already know the whole reason why a sanctuary is not an option here is time and now this? I don't think Marineland dolphins can spend 2 more years in their deteriorating pools, they really need to be move fast so I am not sure about that part... Maybe a temporary transfer to another facility could help? But then to which one?
 
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Corby93 said:
I've visited Harderwijck and Beauval and I see a little bit difficult that monsieur Delord could create an enclosure that could compete the Harderwijck lagoon... (by cost, landscape, distance from the sea...), but I'm 100% sure that is going to be a 5 star enclosure like the last one made by the company.
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Distance by the sea of course would be impossible, but apart from that this is somewhere which spares no expense..
 
Gab_1 said:
Departure of (3.0) gorillas to Saint-Martin la Plaine (France). Another male will make the reverse journey in November.
TROIS COLOSSES DE 200 KILOS DÉBARQUENT AU ZOO DE ST-MARTIN-LA-PLAINE - 42info Saint-Étienne
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These Gorillas are Kajolu, Kumi and Sadiki, maintained as a bachelor group on their own island, apart from the breeding group.
I wonder who will replace them, maybe some teenage/young adult males from the main group.
Espace Zoologique - Officiel on Instagram: " , ... ́ ! Kajolu, Kumi et Sadiki, trois impressionnants gorilles mâles d’environ 200 kg chacun, ont rejoint l’Espace Zoologique depuis le @zoobeauval ! Leur venue s’inscrit dans le Programme d’élevage européen (EEP), qui coordonne les échanges entre parcs zoologiques pour le bien-être et la conservation de l’espèce en dehors du milieu naturel. Comme les gorilles vivent naturellement en groupes composés d'un mâle, de plusieurs femelles et de leurs jeunes, la population européenne compte aujourd’hui davantage de mâles que de femelles. ✨ Notre mission : offrir à ces trois géants un espace adapté, où ils pourront vivre en toute tranquillité, en attendant qu’un jour peut-être des femelles leur soient attribuées pour former leur propre groupe. Les gorilles ont déjà pris leurs marques : ils explorent aussi bien l’ensemble de leur grande serre que leur espace extérieur. Pour faciliter leur adaptation, leurs soigneuses venues de Beauval, qui les accompagnent depuis des années, sont à leurs côtés. Car derrière leur carrure impressionnante, les gorilles restent des primates timides, attachés à leurs habitudes. Vous pouvez dès à présent les observer, en toute sérénité et dans le calme bien sûr ! #gorilles #gorilla #primate #arrivée #zoo #transfert #animaux #animals #conservation #lyon #stetienne"
 
I was in Beauval last Sunday with one of my daughters, a few changes may be noticed :
  • removal of the signages about Knight Anole (Neotropical vivarium of the Dome) and "Common" Black and White Ruffed Lemur (on the island near the Southern entrance), the last individual of the latter species (one geriatric male) may be dead or at best placed off-show ;
  • the Vietnamese Crocodile Newts seem to be back (signage placed, but not seen) in the Bivouac (base camp) of the Dome ; in the nearby tank the Ghost Mantises have been replaced by replicas of the Desertas Islands Snails (but not any "real" individual) ;
  • I've seen 1 baby Bongo ; a keeper told me about the birth of 1 Moustached Monkey (very plausible, but not seen) too ;
  • in the Bird Nursery there were 3 young Lord Derby's Parakeets, plus many Ibis chicks (most likely Scarlet Ibises).
 
Birth of Bahïs, a (0.1) Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). She is the 4th calf of Saathi, her mother.
ZooParc de Beauval, sensationnellement animal on Instagram: " Naissance exceptionnelle à Beauval ! Dans la nuit du 13 au 14 septembre, Saathi, femelle rhinocéros indien, a donné naissance à son quatrième petit… en seulement 4 minutes après 16 mois de gestation ! Découvert au petit matin par Jonathan, soigneur animalier et chef du secteur Plaine Asiatique, le bébé pèserait environ 45 kg et il s’agit d’une femelle. Tout l’équipe de soigneurs animaliers de la Plaine Asiatique a choisi de prénommer la petite femelle Bahïs (se prononce Bahisse), en hommage à son père Sahib, rhinocéros indien mort le 6 octobre 2024. Les soigneurs ont formé ce prénom en utilisant les lettres de Sahib. Déjà bien vigoureuse, elle tête parfaitement et reste tout contre sa mère protectrice et expérimentée. Vous pouvez déjà l’apercevoir aux côtés de Saathi, derrière les vitres de son bâtiment de la Plaine Asiatique. "
 
Gab_1 said:
Birth of Bahïs, a (0.1) Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). She is the 4th calf of Saathi, her mother.
ZooParc de Beauval, sensationnellement animal on Instagram: " Naissance exceptionnelle à Beauval ! Dans la nuit du 13 au 14 septembre, Saathi, femelle rhinocéros indien, a donné naissance à son quatrième petit… en seulement 4 minutes après 16 mois de gestation ! Découvert au petit matin par Jonathan, soigneur animalier et chef du secteur Plaine Asiatique, le bébé pèserait environ 45 kg et il s’agit d’une femelle. Tout l’équipe de soigneurs animaliers de la Plaine Asiatique a choisi de prénommer la petite femelle Bahïs (se prononce Bahisse), en hommage à son père Sahib, rhinocéros indien mort le 6 octobre 2024. Les soigneurs ont formé ce prénom en utilisant les lettres de Sahib. Déjà bien vigoureuse, elle tête parfaitement et reste tout contre sa mère protectrice et expérimentée. Vous pouvez déjà l’apercevoir aux côtés de Saathi, derrière les vitres de son bâtiment de la Plaine Asiatique. "
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Very good news, as we've lost our breeding male one year ago (as it has happened with the Giraffes too, not long ago...).
 
I've visited Beauval today for the first time, and while I'm not sure how to feel about the zoo itself, I've got an small additional information concerning the construction site behind the 3rd Elephant yard/the Elephant cable car station, which @Meiryu has already written about:
Meiryu said:
  • Finally, a crane has arrived behind the African Elephants 3rd yard, some constructions are going on (maybe the new petting zoo)
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A zoo staff member told me that this is indeed going to be the new petting zoo, which will replace the current one.
Does anyone have any ideas about what is planned to fill the space between the elephants and snow leopards, where the current petting zoo is located?
 
Floriah said:
It's going to be an Australian section, don't know yet the details of it but it's been planned for many years now
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The Red Kangaroos (currently in a long but quite small enclosure between the Tasmanian Devils and the Koalas) will be moved there, that will be a gain for them.
There are rumours about the arrival of Cassowaries, and I would bet for the comeback of the Émus (common but iconic species) too.
 
A new article from Reporterre provides more details about Beauval’s dolphin project.

According to Rodolphe Delord, the dolphin pool would hold 30,000 m³ of seawater, covering one hectare (so roughly twice the size of Harderwijk’s main pool) with variable depths up to 8 m. Water sterilization would rely on ozone and UV treatment. NGOs already seem ready to accept public viewing of dolphins, as long as no shows are staged and scientific research is carried out.

I wonder what y'all think about this project which could well see the light of day soon... Personally I really despise it :

1 - Its ecological impact would be massive (land artificialization, water and energy use...), all for a facility that is only supposed to serve as a “transition” to a sanctuary (a promise unlikely to be honored).
2 - Construction and permits will realisticly take at least two years, during which Marineland’s dolphins remain in miserable conditions.
3 - This gives Beauval an outsized role, with state funding and NGO support, further cementing its dominance over the French zoo landscape.

For me, this reflects a major failure of french animal welfare NGOs, who pushed for laws that condemned Marineland’s dolphins, only to now compromise on NEW captive cetaceans facility in the country that banned them 4 years ago. I think that these animals should never have been in captivity in the first place. Since relocation projects have consistently failed and sanctuaries like Taranto have yet to be built, one could almost argue that euthanasia would be a more honest outcome than building a dolphinarium at Beauval, a project that feels both ecologically and ideologically absurd. I don’t actually support such a solution, but in this context it almost appears less contradictory. But I think “contradictory” is a word that accurately describes both NGOs that campaign against animal captivity and the current French government.

That said, from an animal welfare perspective, the project does seem decent, and one could even argue its ecological/financial cost is justified if more dolphins are transferred there from other countries.
 
jopif said:
A new article from Reporterre provides more details about Beauval’s dolphin project.

According to Rodolphe Delord, the dolphin pool would hold 30,000 m³ of seawater, covering one hectare (so roughly twice the size of Harderwijk’s main pool) with variable depths up to 8 m. Water sterilization would rely on ozone and UV treatment. NGOs already seem ready to accept public viewing of dolphins, as long as no shows are staged and scientific research is carried out.

I wonder what y'all think about this project which could well see the light of day soon... Personally I really despise it :

1 - Its ecological impact would be massive (land artificialization, water and energy use...), all for a facility that is only supposed to serve as a “transition” to a sanctuary (a promise unlikely to be honored).
2 - Construction and permits will realisticly take at least two years, during which Marineland’s dolphins remain in miserable conditions.
3 - This gives Beauval an outsized role, with state funding and NGO support, further cementing its dominance over the French zoo landscape.

For me, this reflects a major failure of french animal welfare NGOs, who pushed for laws that condemned Marineland’s dolphins, only to now compromise on NEW captive cetaceans facility in the country that banned them 4 years ago. I think that these animals should never have been in captivity in the first place. Since relocation projects have consistently failed and sanctuaries like Taranto have yet to be built, one could almost argue that euthanasia would be a more honest outcome than building a dolphinarium at Beauval, a project that feels both ecologically and ideologically absurd. I don’t actually support such a solution, but in this context it almost appears less contradictory. But I think “contradictory” is a word that accurately describes both NGOs that campaign against animal captivity and the current French government.

That said, from an animal welfare perspective, the project does seem decent, and one could even argue its ecological/financial cost is justified if more dolphins are transferred there from other countries.
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Thank you for the details! The project seems really good. I doubt we never will see a sanctuary so Europe needs a place where dolphins can live instead on sold them to Asian facilities. This should have be made much more earlier. Considering the size, I don´t understand why they refuse to accept the orcas. Will be bigger than the orca pools at Loro Parque. I understand they should go to another place with more whales, but if that´s not a possibility, then why not move them too? I don´t think that would create a backlash since they are selling it as a rescue and there would be no shows there.
 
jopif said:
1 - Its ecological impact would be massive (land artificialization, water and energy use...), all for a facility that is only supposed to serve as a “transition” to a sanctuary (a promise unlikely to be honored).
2 - Construction and permits will realisticly take at least two years, during which Marineland’s dolphins remain in miserable conditions.
3 - This gives Beauval an outsized role, with state funding and NGO support, further cementing its dominance over the French zoo landscape.
Click to expand...
I fully agree with you on the ecological side of things, but I disagree somewhat on your latter point. I'd be interested if you could elaborate on why state-funded zoos are a bad thing? Unless the government financing Beauval is somehow taking funds away from other French zoos, then surely the fact that they are willing to pour funds into a zoo (especially given the dislike toward such places from many people) is something to be applauded.

As a whole, the project looks really exciting. I'm not a big fan of cetaceans in captivity in general, but the sheer size of the tank should allow them to swim directly for hundreds of metres at a time, considering Harderwijk already allows 70 and this is double the surface area. In terms of overall volume, it would just pip Valencia (26,000 cubic metres versus 30,000) to being the largest in Europe (the world?).
 
Kalaw said:
I fully agree with you on the ecological side of things, but I disagree somewhat on your latter point. I'd be interested if you could elaborate on why state-funded zoos are a bad thing? Unless the government financing Beauval is somehow taking funds away from other French zoos, then surely the fact that they are willing to pour funds into a zoo (especially given the dislike toward such places from many people) is something to be applauded.

As a whole, the project looks really exciting. I'm not a big fan of cetaceans in captivity in general, but the sheer size of the tank should allow them to swim directly for hundreds of metres at a time, considering Harderwijk already allows 70 and this is double the surface area. In terms of overall volume, it would just pip Valencia (26,000 cubic metres versus 30,000) to being the largest in Europe (the world?).
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Obviously, as a zoo fan, I think that public money going into zoos is a good thing (even if the zoo in question is private and the richest in the country). What troubles me is the message this project sends. In 2016, Beauval’s lagoon project was rejected. In 2021 a law was passed to end cetacean captivity in France. Now, the same state and NGOs that pushed for that same law are supporting the construction of a brand-new dolphin facility.

I imagine many people who supported the 2021 law won’t be thrilled to see millions of euros redirected into building another dolphin enclosure. To me, it feels less like progress for animal welfare and more like a sign of weakness or compromise from both the government and NGOs, an uneasy outcome where Beauval ends up looking like the big winner. Furthermore, the irony of the ecological problem I pointed out is amplified by the fact that the ministry responsible for this project is called the “Ministry of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Sea and Fishery”... To sum up, my problem is more with the form than with the substance.
 
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