Prague Zoo on the road to recovery
There's a restaurant in Prague called Noah's Arc -and it is exactly where you'd expect to find it - on the grounds of Prague's Troya Zoo- where five months ago employees worked night and day to save hundreds of animals from drowning in the devastating floods that swept the country. The zoos' plight triggered a wave of sympathy and support from around the world and today the Prague zoo is on the road to recovery. Find out more in this week's Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
There's a restaurant in Prague called Noah's Arc -and it is exactly where you'd expect to find it - on the grounds of Prague's Troya Zoo- where 5 months ago employees worked night and day to save hundreds of animals from drowning in the devastating floods that swept the country. Despite their valiant efforts close to 100 animals perished or had to be shot as the waters rose. Here' s how the zoo's director Petr Fejk described the crisis at the time :
"Every point at which we were forced to shoot an animal was absolutely terrible. The shooting of the hippo took place at eleven o'clock at night. We were completely under water, we had only a weapon in our hands and a light and there was no alternative because the hippo was about to be swept into the Vltava river which would have presented a public threat. I will never forget those moments. It was the biggest tragedy of my life."
The response to this tragedy was enormous. Five months on - financial support and offers of help are still pouring in from individuals and institutions both at home and abroad and, as work continues on reconstructing damaged buildings and enclosures, the zoo is back on its feet and making new plans for the future. This week Troya Zoo received 1 million Czech crowns from the sale of an animal encyclopedia and at a press conference in the African House Petr Fejk explained how the money, donated by the Euromedia-Knizni Klub publishing house, would be used.
"We are preparing a special project for children - a children's zoo within the zoo-with a contact exposition of African domestic animals and animals living in and around cities here in central Europe. At the center of this project is an African village where visitors will really get the feel of life in such surroundings, where they will be able to touch the animals and feed them - and do all the things that are forbidden in other parts of the zoo."
"I mean sheep, goats, cows, hens and horses, among others. As for the other part of the project that relates to animals found here in Central Europe and is mainly educational. We want to show children how these animals live, what they need, how to care for them and how to help them if necessary."
Our listeners were very touched by the story of Troya Zoo, by the floods, by how much was destroyed, by the work you did at the time to save what you could. We had a lot of letters in response to that - could you tell me how you are doing in reconstruction work?
"900 of our animals are now back in the zoo - but one hundred still remain in temporary homes elsewhere, in other Czech zoos, waiting for us to build them new homes. So that is our current priority. We have to start with the reconstruction of the gorilla house and the house for big cats because these species are waiting in other zoos, then we have to find new housing for our flamingos and pelicans and most important of all we have to move the elephant and hippo quarters to another part of the zoo where they would be absolutely safe in any future flood."
I remember how proud you were when you opened the gorilla house because for some years the Prague zoo did not have gorillas. Is that the situation now - the zoo is without gorillas - until you can have them back, is that it?
"That is a very sad situation. We spent two years hand-picking that group of gorillas from around the world. And now we cannot move these gorillas back because they experienced terrible stress in these surroundings. So we have to acquire new gorillas which is terribly difficult because the gorilla is an endangered species and there are very few babies. It is not easy to get gorillas from other zoos and it is absolutely impossible to acquire them from the wild."
You lost close to 100 animals in the floods - some of them birds - have other zoos offered to help you? Have they offered to give you animals or to sell some of their animals?
Have there been any happy moments in the past five months ? There's a new born giraffe here right in front of us...
"Yes, life in the zoo goes on and I am happy for it. I think a flood is much harder for people to survive than it is for animals."
Were the animals very stressed out after the flood?
"Well, some of them were. The birds, for instance, are very sensitive. They had related health problems for about a month after the floods and needed special care. But the hippos, elephants and big cats only needed a few days to forget the experience. Nature is very clever in this respect and for the animals life is the top priority. "
In 2001 you opened the African House and the Gorilla House. The African House, dominated by giraffes, is considered to be one of the finest in Europe and you were also planning an Indonesian house - has that had to be put off because of these problems?
"I'm happy to say that the Indonesian jungle project is going ahead. We are hoping to open the Indonesian jungle house in 2004 along with a new gorilla house. Of course, we will need a lot of money and good partners to achieve that but we are hoping that things will work out and we will be able to open both these new houses in the spring of 2004."
Prague Zoo director Petr Fejk there with ambitious plans for the future of Troya Zoo. For more information please go to www.zoopraha.cz where you will find updates on progress in English and the zoo's account number should you wish to make a contribution yourself.
