Hi everyone ! I'm a French zoo fan since many years and a big cats enthousiat but I also love many other animals. Felines are my favorite subject so I have much informations about them I visited many zoos during the last decade, particularly in western France and in and around Paris. My favorite one is la Boissière du Doré. I go there often and know quite well the animals. I'm also a regular visitor at Doué la Fontaine since almost a decade. Except zoo information, I'm a 26 years-old teacher (so no zoo visits during school days ) and mother of a 2-years-old boy who loves animals too ! It runs in the family
Welcome! I am also (half) French but I still get a decent amount of zoo-going done in France By zoos in Western France do you mean Beauval, Doue etc. and then la Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes, Vincennes, Thoiry etc. for zoos in and around Paris? I would be interested to hear what you have to say about them We have a fairly large French community on Zoochat but we are still missing locals for fairly large zoos, so you are very welcome! By the way, why is Boissiere du Dore your favourite zoo?
La Boissière du Doré is one the closest to my home and I've know it for more than a decade (first visit in 2009, first year pass in 2014). I got attached to many animals here during all those years. I've also seen the zoo grow and get better and better each year : much more implication in conservation, and also a lot of upgrades in the enclosures. The zoos I visit the most (closest) are la Boissière du Doré, Legendia Parc, Doué la Fontaine, and also but less : les Sables d'Olonne, Mervent, Branféré, Pont Scorff (now closed), le Refuge de l'Arche. almost 4 hours from Beauval so not this one, I've been here only once. Other zoos I visited include : la Flèche, Planète Sauvage, Spay, la Bourbansais, Biotropica, CERZA, Jurques, le Parc des Félins, Thoiry, la Ménagerie, Vincennes...
Welcome Panthera on Zoochat. Interesting the zoos you visited already, special Legendia Parc which I did't know nothing about. Some others I've visited since 1985 several times as Doué, Beauval, Thoiry, La Flèche, Vincennes, Ménagerie in the years. Panthera does me thinking on a Feline refugee PANTERA which was in Nijeberkoop in our region Friesland. My son was there volunteer from 1993 till 2006. Now it still exists as FELIDA Big Cat Centre.
@Panthera9 Bon Jour - welcome to our site. You love big cats and you live in France but your favorite zoo is not Le Parc Des Felins? I love cats (big and small) as well and it is by far my favorite zoo. I have been there on four of my six European trips; one trip I spent three and a half days there.
Welcome to Zoochat! I’ve always wanted to do a London-Paris trip so it’s nice to have another French native that I may or may not pester about zoo recommendations in France .
Hello and welcome to the latest member of the french colony here on Zoochat. It seems that we can consider we are neighbours as I live in Poitiers.Your location is quite good for a zoo nerd but not as mine of course If all is ok with the new period of post covid-19 I will be in your favourite zoo next week ! @Arizona Docent La Boissière du Doré has a great range of felids for a middle average zoo : sumatran tigers, snow leopards, black leopards, clouded leopards, angolan lions, asiatic lion (just one old now), cheetahs (in a really nice double enclosure surrounded by a wonderfull african plain) margay and serval.
Not Angolan lions. The 2 females are west african lionesses. Many "african" lions aroung Europe got genetic tests to know if they could integrate subspecies breeding programms and some lions of west african lineage were found. In France the lions from CERZA (la Boissière's 2 females Taya and Katani were born here) and Sigean. But most of the young ones are females... La Boissière asked to get a young male of west african lineage from Antwerp but didn't get him. Instead they got Deema, young male born at Plzen, Barbary lineage. I don't know if they will breed them or not. Barbary and west african lions are closely related and captive ones probably aren't 100 pure, but they still belong to different subspecies. There are Angolan lions in a related zoo, but that's Mervent @Arizona Docent in fact le Parc des Félins was a disappointment for me. I was very pleased to see so many different cat species, this park is unique in the world for that and every feline lover should go there at least once. On the other side, I found it...boring ! I'm a long time visitor of zoos with very impressive and immersive landscapes, like Doué and, more each year, la Boissière and Legendia Parc. At le Parc des Félins all enclosures are the same, almost. Patches of forest and grass with fence around it, that's all. No efforts to make it immersive, and that damned fence is a photographer's nightmare. @arnold balk I live not far from Legendia Parc and discovered it only 4 years ago ! Not well known, but very interesting. It's specialized in eurasian and north american animals, with a project of african area in a few years (servals are here already). I like it because it's immersive, not many French zoos show european species except wolves and bears, and it's very educational. Legendia Parc chose to speak about animals with legends and stories about the relation between animals and people.
Interesting (and somewhat shocking) to hear a different perspective on Le Parc Des Felins, especially from a cat lover. I actually find it better to use existing terrain (forest, etc) than to build expensive immersive exhibits. Here in USA one of my favorite zoos is Northwest Trek that does exactly the same thing. I also like both (Northwest Trek and Parc Felins) because they give their animals huge enclosures, far bigger than most zoos. I also find that with a good telephoto lens it is quite easy to photograph through fences (not just at Parc Felins but at a lot of zoos). In fact due to the distortion or discoloration that often results from shooting through glass I find I get much clearer photos shooting through fences or wires. Anyway appreciate the tips on Dore from both @Antoine and @Panthera9 and if I am back there again I may try to fit it in, especially if they have margay (a species which only has two elderly specimens left in USA in somewhat bad zoos).
@Panthera9 Oh sh...of course you are true and I know it but I forgot My mistake ! But on the otherside : Sorry but from the lot of pictures I have seen Legendia Parc is not immersive (what is immersive in the brown bears enclosure ?) and has not a good range of european species. Moreover, there are some very interesting parks specialized in european fauna like Zoodyssée, Parc de Sainte Croix, Domaine de Pescheray, Parc Animalier de Gramat with far more european species. Zoodyssée which is the nearest for you is a really good park, one of the best in the country with fine exhibits. A must see for you.
Go yourself, you'll see It's better than it looks like. And I said eurasian and north american, not "european"
Sorry Panthera9 but I saw it there : Anyway, Legendia Park is on my list for future visits so I will make my own opinion ! And I confirm you must go to Zoodyssée. A really nice place.
