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Skånes Djurpark A review of Skanes Animal Park in the south of Sweden

Discussion in 'Sweden' started by Dan, 10 Jul 2009.

  1. Dan

    Dan Well-Known Member

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    659
    Location:
    Sweden
    I visited Skanes Animal Park on July 7, 2009. I have visited it half a dozen times ever since I was a child some 45 years ago. The strange thing is that the park is basically unchanged since then! It was very good then and it is still very good now. It was opened in 1950 and it is owned by a foundation supported by some of the neighbouring municipal communities. Supported by tax money in other words. The number of annual visitors is about 200 000. It is situated 3 kilometres outside of the very small city of Höör in the south of Sweden. The city only has a few thousand inhabitants but is situated along one of the major railroad lines in Sweden. The bus driver who took me and some other 30 or so people to the park drove like a car thief along the narrow and hilly roads leading to the park; kids in the back of the bus screamed and shouted as if they were on a roller-coaster ride! I enjoyed it very much too, haha :D!

    Anyway, the park is devoted to native species. Only a couple of exceptions, such as European bison and raccoons are to be found. This is great, since it makes it very easy to create good conditions for the animals. Large areas of genuine Swedish forest and grasslands are cost-effectively fenced in; night stalls are not an issue.

    I took up on the advice here at ZooChat to walk around the park counter-clockwise and that turned out to be a great idea! For the first one and a half hour I felt as if I was walking in my own private park! If you want to follow my walk, please check out the map of the park:

    http://www.skanesdjurpark.se/info/images/karta.jpg

    Taking the route that I did, you first encounter a great number of fantastic enclosures for hoof-stock, such as reindeer, fallowed deer, red deer, European bison, roe deer and musk ox. The enclosures are several thousands of square meters big but the best thing is that the animals have access to even bigger space off-exhibit than on-exhibit. When the visitors leave the park all enclosures for each species are opened up and even more space is available!

    Here are some links to some of the hoof-stock exhibits:

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/amp-quot-kronhjort-amp-quot-exhibit-91955/

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/european-bison-exhibit-91740/

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/reindeer-exhibit-91950/

    Along your way you will find several great aviaries, mostly inhabited by birds of prey. The enclosures for wild boar are also very good, and then you suddenly find yourself in the area of the Nordic predators! Brown bear, wolf, polar fox, red fox, wolverine and other species. Most enclosures are very good (some of them are brilliant), as can be seen in these few examples:

    http://www.zoochat.com/photo/red-fox-exhibit-50716.jpg

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/brown-bear-exhibit-no-2-a-91330/

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/wolf-exhibit-91714/


    Walking on, you get to experience the water world of Scandinavia. Enclosures for seal, otter and beaver. As I have mentioned in the gallery, beaver and otter were two of the three species that I could not spot in this park (the third being the wolverine). The enclosures for beaver and otter are great from an animal point of view. Perhaps 1500 square meters for the beaver and perhaps 2000 square meters for the otter. Tacky landscape design – especially from a US point of view – but the animals probably don’t mind! The beaver enclosure is a reworking of the old seal enclosure. The seals now have about 4000 square meters that they share with sheep! The water area I believe is something like 1500 square meters; the rest of the enclosure consists of wood and grassland.

    Some examples from this area of the park:

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/beaver-exhibit-91737/

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/otter-exhibit-91733/

    http://www.zoochat.com/1012/mixed-exhibit-seals-sheep-91356/

    The last part of the park mainly features domesticated Nordic animals.

    In conclusion, Skanes Animal park is a great place to visit! I spent five hours enjoying myself. It is very beautiful and some areas of the park simply consist of untouched authentic wood and wetland. The animal enclosures blend in very good. Most fences are painted green and here and there you have a hard time seeing where the enclosure ends – although no attempts whatsoever at “US style immersion” are being made.

    What else?

    Oh… admittance for children under 15 years of age is free – but as I mentioned in the beginning of the review, the park is partly tax financed...

    Only fast food is available. The hamburger was a real piece of crap… the French fries were OK… :p
     
  2. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Thanks for the comprehensive review Dan, and I really appreciate the effort it takes to type up zoo reviews.:) There is a place south of Seattle called Northwest Trek Wildlife Park that sounds quite similar to Skanes Animal Park. I've visited twice and plan to go a 3rd time this summer, and when I do I'll post loads of photos that you'll definitely love. Thanks again for the review and great photos.
     
  3. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Everywhere at once
    Thanks for the review, Dan. I wonder if you could also review Stockholm's Aquarium?
     
  4. Dan

    Dan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    21 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    659
    Location:
    Sweden
    Thanks guys! I love reviews, too!

    @Jurek7:
    I don´t travel that much (I spend most of my spare time taking care of some very dear dog friends of mine - when their owners go on vacation, work night-time, need a break etc) but my work will probably have me go to Gothenburg in about a month or so and then I will take a day off to revisit the wonderful institution of Universeum ( Universeum mitt i Göteborg – ett nyttigt nöje med roliga aktiviteter för hela familjen ), a science centre with some great zoological exhibits, and if so I will write a review of it.

    Same thing, probably, with Stockholm a few times next spring and if so I will take days off to visit and review all the zoological institutions there.

    Within the next few weeks I will visit, take photos and review the two rather humble zoological institutions of Malmö: The Aquarium and The Reptile Centre.
     
  5. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Location:
    fijnaart, the netherlands
    Twin Moose born at Skanes :)