It would, but that may be a long time off. Even a zoo like Burgers' Zoo is not finished with tearing down old enclosures and replacing them with new ones. In the past 30 years effectively all outdated enclosures have been demolished, except the old bird house. That bird house will probably go in the coming years, but that doesn't mean that it has seen some small to medium renovations over the past 15 years. That is comparable to the current situation of the monkey house and Ostrava is in an earlier stage of overhauling the whole zoo than many of the western European zoos. It does look like a zoo of contrasts now, but in 10-20 years time it won't. I think we are on the same page, but you have to give zoos time. Except Pairi Daiza & Beauval, not a single zoo can remodel hectares of zoo every single year.
Anyway if we speak about but exhibits in othervise good bohemian (and moravian) zoos... is it only me or is chimpanzee exhibit is really, really... not good? Outdoor isn´t bad, even if maybe a bit small for pack of apes. But indoor area! Really looks unpleasant (but its inhabitants could have different opinion ) and really, really small (at least there is some space for climbing, but still...) Or is it just exposition and rear is better, at least space-vise? I hope there will be some change in near future... especially when they plan even breed them...
Jeeez, sorry sorry I meant Pilsen and now I see that I didn´t mention it (I shouldn´t do multiple things at one moment) About Ostrava: I was there before was Evolution pavilon opened, however I know about it
Having visited Jihlava and Ostrava on October 19 - 20, here are my impressions. It was 15-20 degrees both days and great zoo weather. However, I was under time pressure both visits, and missed some parts of the zoos. Jihlava: First impression is weak. A boring giraffe paddock where the two animals seem to show some disturbed and stressed behaviour. A fish tank combines ancistrus, Congo tetra and torpedo barbs. In the giraffe house, small African mammals are housed in what seems to be former wardrobes and small bathrooms, now keeping gundis and galagos. Things pick up with impressive striped hyenas in a vegetated enclosure, but the Australian Pollack farm again keeps small mammals and herps in too tight enclosures. Things got better further back into the zoo though. The bird area is beautiful, the bear enclosure, as well as for some smaller predators, are OK. However, cages for many of the cats are way too small (tigers and leopards - horrible). Babirusa/gibbon is a nice combination, but the babirusa's moat is much too narrow and bare. Jihlava would have been a delightful zoo with twice the area. I like the tightly knit zooscape and there is a good feel to the areas further from the entrance. But they really should give away some larger animals. Ostrava: Great first impression with a nature walk among simple but very spacious deer paddocks. An early red panda area has ugly fencing but is otherwise large and vegetated and it was nice to see the animals use all the space. The bird area was mainly closed, but the owl aviaries are very spacious and, I felt, better than the ones in Prague. Three cages for mid sized cats were impressively ugly, but as far as I remember at least slightly larger than the ones for Caracal and Jungle Cat in Jihlava. Then comes Chitwan, and it is probably the best exhibitry I have seen for either bear or monkey. Awesome and I was standing for a full hour, soaking in the incredible sights. The langurs seemed more at ease and active here than I have ever seen monkeys. There were kids everywhere, playing high up in the birch trees. As far as I could see (I returned later during the day), neither they nor the bear used the hind parts of the enclosure, but maybe they just appreciate having all that space as a buffer zone. This looks like the future of zoos. Eight exhibits of this class + birds and herps, and it is already a full visit. The outside elephant area is too small and in my dreams they connect it to the lake on the other side of the visitor path. The monkey house is a row of cells. The smell made the kids behind me double over. It was at least rather empty, with most lemurs moved to spacious islands - definitely the best lemur outdoors exhibitry I have seen anywhere for such a large number of species (7?). I also appreciated the evolution pavilion. The Tanganyika pavilion is OK for the hippos I guess, and had the added benefit of an expertly assembled Tanganyika tank - probably the best I have seen in any zoo and way better than the 10 times larger but otherwise failed tank in Wroclaw. I appreciate the night exhibitry much more than in Jihlava and realize that I prefer to look into a very dark room with some but slim chances of seeing the inhabitants over staring at galagos in Jihlava's too brightly lit and bare exhibits. There remains time for the African ungulates paddocks (standard), the Papua (just a small room but nicely made and a good aviary), the India house (terrible for the leopards) and the wonderful Tibetan aviaries. All in all I found Ostrava a very nice zoo, which could be a great one within a not too distant future. The ambiance is wonderful, a bit rough and unpredictable and, like many Czech zoos, the combination of larger and smaller mammals with herps and birds in geographically themed areas works very well. Overall I much preferred Ostrava to Jihlava in its current state. With right decisions, both can become really good, but hearing that Jihlava actually stocks up on species, there seems to be a risk of them becoming a "hyper-Plzen". While Prague of course has twice the species and must be ranked higher, I enjoyed my day at Ostrava equally much. Zlin has better average enclosure quality, but Ostrava has much more small mammals, herps ad fishes, and I'm not sure which one I prefer.
Yup, I was there after few years and with those small cats I must agree. Damn, I get it when zoo don´t have enough space... but to make "ceiling" of these aviaries/paddocks a bit higher surely isn´t impossible! On the other hand, I still like Jihlava much, is it a "heart issue" for me (with Prague), even with flaws (pygmy hippo house which didn´t change - much? - in years and cat house, of course)
