"Giardino Zoologico di Pistoia" or Pistoia zoo is situated between Florence and Pisa and quite a way off the beaten track. We saw no advertising for the zoo in Italy but knew it was there from some research before the trip. The zoo can only be reached by taxi or bus as it is quite a way from the train station. When the taxi pulled up outside the zoo entrance we were more than tempted to ask him to take us straight back to the train station. A delipidated wooden sign and empty dustbowl for a car park is all that greets you and if i were driving i would have gone straight past. Entrance was cheap, about 12 euros. We set off into the park and the first exhibit we saw was a large lake home to black swans, pelicans, canada geese and other ducks and waterfowl, both ringed and wild. Next to this was a large construction site which was being developed as a bear exhibit. There were lots of wild lizards running about as we made our way to the next enlosure which was a solitary reindeer on a steep hill. Followed by an enclosure which housed markhor goats with a large rock climbing structure. Next were some very spacious glass fronted exhibits for wolves and lynx, both were well planted and shaded. After this was a domestic petting zoo home to a extensive collection of farm yard animals, pigs donkeys sheep goats cattle and horses. This then looped back to the front of the zoo near the cafetria and we thought we had seen nearly the whole zoo, and up until this point had not seen another person, the zoo is extremely quiet. However, we continued exploring and then found ourselves amongst a truly impressive collection of animals. Small animal exhibits of gibbons, a variety of monkeys, banded mongose, crested porcupine, rhea, ring tailed lemur, rabbits, guinea pigs, peacocks and bacterian camels. A cirular reptile house that housed the usual collection of snakes, anacondas and boas etc but no venomous collection i can remember. Also exhibited were two crocodile pits. Horned frogs and day geckos. The big cat enclosures were on the whole impressive and new. The lion and tiger exhibits were spacious, well planted and both had places for the animals to sit out of view. The jaguar exhibit conversely was very disappointing, it housed three jaguars in a cage that in my opinion was not big enough for one. Whilst watching through the glass viewing panel two jaguars were snarling at each other and the other was pacing back and forth over the same 3m area, quite disappointing considering their proximity to the other big cats. Up until now we were very impressed with the zoo, but we were about to encounter the older part of the zoo, where the exhibits were very sub par. Their was a large concrete building (providing minimal shade) with paddock in the front, split in three sections, the floors of which were covered in a thin layer of sand and dirt. From left to right the exhibits held two nile hippos, two giraffes (unknown species, pictures in gallery) and two asian elephants, all in exhibits much much too small for them. The hippos had a pool they could barely lay in next to each other, the giraffes did have an elevated hay and browse holder, while the elephants were in a barron paddock. Alongside these are two equally small enclosures holding a single white rhino and a single zebra. A sign said the elephants have access to fields behind the building when they arent on display but this area couldnt be viewed. Also the giraffe and elephant enclosure had feed boxes at the front where for 20 cents you got a handful of pellets (like those you would expect at a petting zoo) to feed them. The elephants however did not take kindly to being teased by a young lady pretending to have food, so they took their revenge by pelting her with stones from their enclosure. Two more equally disappointing enclosures were the solitary male patagonian sea lion who was exhibited in what appaered to be a regular swimming pool with uneaten fish laying on the bottom, and the worst exhibit of all would have to be the polar bear exhibit, unlike nearly all other exhibits it had no shade at all and the polar bear was visibly panting. It had a pool but the rest of the enclosure was angular concrete and the bear just paced around the perimiter constantly, as it clearly had no where near enough space. All in all i would reccomend visiting this zoo, because although there are some extrmely sub par exhibts, the new and redeveloped exhits are more than acceptable. The zoo is a testament to the phrase "appearances can be deceiving" as it was well stocked and educational with great multi language signs. Things appear to be improving and since my visit the zoo has opened its new brown bear exhibit which from the zoos website looks very impressive. Also, well done for having the patience to read this far and I have added some photos to the gallery.
I wonder how big the "Bacterian camels" are? nice review, and calling 12 euro cheap?? ever been in a german zoo
Sorry, Bactrian camels. They were quite funny to watch, they had a shade shelter which one had managed to get stuck under, one hump out one hump in, took him quite a while to work out to bend down. Cheap as opposed to british zoos then lol. I haven't visited any yet, but i plan to visit some next summer hopefully, and im going to the Berlin zoos this christmas but i suspect those ones will be quite expensive.
The zoo has changed a little bit since 2009,the opened a wonderful bear enclosure,and the get black and white ruffed lemurs and tupaias,an hippo was born this summer and their next project is the refurbishing of the hippo enclosure.
Good to hear that changes are being made to the hippo enclosure. Hopefully it is the beginning of the refurbishment of all of the exhibits in that particular area!
Good lynx and wolf exhibits (Europeans or Abruzzo wolf?) already in place. I assume they have built an European bear exhibit? The animal collection seems a bit haphazard and geared towards too many largies. What is the long term aims and plans of the zoo? What does it wish to strive for?
I do not know which type of wolf they have, but there are pictures of them in the gallery so you can decide that. http://www.zoochat.com/1328/wolves-189647/ and yes it is a european brown bear exhibit, they have a video on their web page showing the bear exploring its new enclosure.
Polar bears at Pistoia Pistoia zoo won't keep polar bears anymore. Recently the male Blizzard(born at Pistoia some years ago) has been sent to Rostock,he will stay there for some times,after that he 'll be sent to Hamburg new Eismeer. His mother 'll be sent to Budapest in future. In future the zoo will announce what will replace the polar bears
Zoo pistoia news This week Pistoia sent the last polar bear to Budapest,and got some penguins from Warsaw.They also made a new map,apparently they are going to build a 'Savanna enclosure' behind the elephant enclosure,the former polar bear cage and the former nutria enclosure are in refurbishing.
Have the hippo and savannah projects been completed at Zoo di Pistoia? I know one of the next is to be an elephant exhibit.
Visit 21 July 2014 I visited the zoo whilst in Italy recently & can confirm that the elephant enclosure is still under construction , but when complete will be a massive improvement on the current one, which is quite simply the worst I can remember seeing by some distance - probably about 25/30 yards by 10 , if you don't count the (empty) pool at the front! The elephant/giraffe/hippo area was the only low point of an otherwise enjoyable visit. I don't know what is planned for the giraffe/hippo once the elephant have moved, but the total outside area for all 3 species was probably smaller than London's (not very large!) giraffe paddock. The brown bear enclosure was amazingly good and the enclosures for lion,tiger , wolf, lynx all of which were newish were good too. A fairly good and varied collection overall and nice to see a few species that I don't see too often in the UK e.g Markhor,Caracal, Golden Cheeked Gibbon,pig-tailed Macaque,Jaguar,Double Wattled Cassowary (note these are uncommon to me anyway in the 15-20 zoos I visit annually) . As for 'Common' Hippo, the only 'zoo' with them in UK is Whipsnade!
