Zoo Ostrava The Annual Report 2009

Ostrava Zoo – the Safari Exhibit
The development period for the project documentation funded by the SCO’s grant is 2009 and 2010, with costs
amounting to CZK 2,356 thousand including VAT as determined based on the public tender. The intention is
to develop a safari exhibit, a vast fenced outdoor enclosure with free-ranging animals. This will be a ridethrough
area with visitors allowed to observe the animals, while keeping as close contact as possible with
the creatures, getting the sense of moving in an open natural area amidst exotic wildlife that can be watched
in its natural habitat and very close to the people. This kind of presenting the animals in zoos is something
highly attractive, making the visitors able to move throughout the open grounds and eliminating the negative
feelings caused by fenced exhibits. In the course of 2008, this project was included into IDPOC, while in 2009,
the zone planning design documentation was developed.
Ostrava Zoo – the Penguin and Seal Exhibit
The development period for the project documentation funded by the SCO’s grant is 2009 and 2010, with
full-range design development costs estimated to range from CZK 3.5 to 3.8 million including VAT. The final
price will be specified based on a public tender. The new exhibit is to replace the existing old bear facility,
which is a huge concrete prison-like cell made in 1960, located in the middle of the zoo. The structure failed
to comply with modern animal husbandry standards already a long time ago. The service life of the old bear
facility as such has already expired and any investments except in terms of personal and animal safety would
be ineffective. As this structure is fully outdated from ethical and technical aspects, only a demolition is
something that makes sense. The planned penguin and seal exhibit will present a mixed exhibit of these
spectacular animals that have always attracted zoo visitors’ attention regardless of age and social background
for their behaviour and activity. These animals can be seen in most of zoos, and their exhibits are amongst
those much-sought.
Ostrava Zoo – the Tiger Exhibit
The development period for the project documentation funded by the SCO’s grant is 2009 and 2010, with
costs determined through the public tender amounting to CZK 1,216 thousand including VAT. The existing
tiger enclosure is a small iron cage. Designed in the spirit of the 1960s, this facility is not only outdated and
beyond any cultural standards, but even fails to comply with the recent animal housing concepts in terms of
husbandry and welfare. The structure has failed to meet even basic tiger housing standards. What's more,
with increasingly stricter requirements for holding animals in captivity, Ostrava Zoo is sure to finish its tiger
collection within several years without developing an up-to-date breeding facility, as no established zoo
institution would permit relocating its animals to any sub-standard housing conditions. Therefore, clearing
this old facility and constructing a new one will be the only alternative. Compared to the existing status, the
new tiger exhibit has been designed as a structure fully integrated into the natural landscape, with minimum
requirements to build anything above the ground level. Such solutions provide the visitors with the possibility
of viewing the animals in their normal habitat: a broad-leaved forest with fully grown trees consisting mainly
of birch-trees similarly as in the tiger’s range countries. In 2009, the building permit design documentation
was finished for the exhibit.
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