Zoo Ostrava The Annual Report 2009

Design, development and maintenance
Pavlína Konečná, Stanislav Derlich and Petr Čolas
Capital projects finished or launched:
In April 2009, a new exhibit was opened in rearranged entrance premises of the parrot house. Named the
Little Amazonia, this new display area was designed to provide some preview of the diversity of the Amazon
forest. The exhibit hosts animal species that were never held in Ostrava before, with the group of cottontop
tamarins, small primates of the callitrichid family whose members feature claws rather than nails being
the most remarkable. Other creatures dwelling in the area include tarantulas - large spider-like members of
Arachnids, poison dart frogs, several freshwater fish species and also a member of cartilaginous fishes and
a freshwater relative to the sea stingrays - the ocellate river stingray, held for the first time at Ostrava Zoo.
The construction including design cost the zoo 2.05 million CZK, of which 1.5 million was provided by the
OKD Foundation and the remainder co-funded to the great extent from the allocation of the Statutory City
of Ostrava (SCO).
The second phase of the Botanical Park Development Project titled Technical Background for the
Horticulture Department was finished and the works gradually accepted, excluding the boiler plant, which
is to undergo trial operation in the first half of 2010. Total costs comprising the preceding challenging design
work amounted to CZK 45,730 thousand including VAT, with earmarked capital grants of CZK 20,000 thousand
and 25,000 thousand allocated by SCO for the construction in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The completed
works replace the old glasshouse from the late 1950s with two state-of-the-art planting glasshouses for
plant propagation and subtropical plants and other facilities required for the function of botanical sections
throughout the zoo, like a shaded glasshouse, seed-bed, container facility, boxes and shelters for machines
and plants. The constructed technical background for the horticulture department will allow the process of
development of the Ostrava Zoo’s botanical part to continue, with the clear and ultimate aim of establishing
the Zoological and Botanical Gardens of Ostrava. The inevitable parts of the project include a modern biomassfuelled
boiler plant and a chipping facility including storing premises with the capacity of 920 m 3 . The very
purpose of constructing such boiler plant is to help cut the zoo’s fossil fuel costs, facilitating the desirable
increase in the percentage of renewable sources of energy. In addition, the project is in line with the principles
of sustainable development. The project design included roads, water and power supply lines, heating mains,
sewerage, a giant rainfall pit and fencing. Located behind the scenes, this set of buildings is essential for the
zoo operations.
The construction work involving the development of a bear and langur exhibit named Chitwan, with
total costs of CZK 66,500 thousand including VAT, was finished and taken over subsequently, excluding the
aquarium facilities which is to undergo trial operation in the early 2010. The entire exhibit will be made
accessible to the public during the main visitor season in 2010, as the habitat the animals will have to adapt
to will be completely different from the one they used to live before. To make the construction possible,
SCO allocated earmarked capital grants of CZK 20,000 thousand and 51,000 thousand in 2008 and 2009,
respectively. The new facility is to feature primates, i.e. the entellus langur, and Asian black bears in a unique
mixed exhibit, using especially an extensive natural outdoor enclosure and indoor housing premises designed
for relocation of the species above from the existing unsatisfactory and outdated small concrete facilities,
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