Head of Prague Zoo says damage estimated at at least 160 million crowns

Damage to the lower part of Prague Zoo in Troja are estimated at around 160 million crowns, its head Miroslav Bobek has revealed, stressing that the number was a first estimate. After suffering devastation in 2002, the zoo introduced a 20-metre high flood wall but it wasn’t enough to stop flood waters a little over a decade later. Animals in the lower level of the zoo, however, were all relocated in advance. Mr Bobek warned that if the Vltava continued to swell further animals would have to be evacuated from their pavilions, namely the sea lions but possibly also the zoo’s gorillas. In 2002, a sea lion was swept from his enclosure in the zoo after Prague was hit by devastating floods. Named Gaston, the animal swam 300 kilometres and was caught only in neighbouring Germany, where he succumbed to exhaustion and stress.