Next year, in May, a new zoo called Söderåsens Zoo will open in Sweden. The collection isn't the best in the world, but it is a new zoo, with potential, so they will probably build more exhibits in the future. For more info, and pics, visit their website. Söderåsens Djurpark Here's the animal list, taken from the homepage. African pygmy goat African hedgehog Bontebok Cotton-top tamarin Pygmy marmoset Giant eland Flying foxes Wildebeest Chipmunk Bactrian camel Red deer Llama Mandrill (the only ones in Sweden) Mouflon Coati Crested porcupine Ring-tailed lemur Red-bellied tamarin Red-necked wallaby Red-handed tamarin Slender-tailed meerkat Night monkey Red-ruffed lemur Wild boar Common marmoset Zebra Domestic donkey Fennec fox White cockatoo Bali mynah Rainbow lorikeet Indian peafowl Snow goose Blue-and yellow macaw Blue-fronted amazon Blue-throated macaw Common wood duck Great green macaw Fireback pheasant Emu Vulturine guineafowl Goffin's cockatoo African grey parrot Horned parakeet Hyacinth macaw Cape Barren goose Demoiselle crane Kea Crowned crane Reeves's pheasant Scarlet macaw Long-billed corella Magellan goose Mandarin duck Marabou stork Mealy amazon Salmon-crested cockatoo Green-winged macaw Common rhea Egyptian goose African olive-pigeon Helmeted guineafowl Rose-breasted cockatoo Red-breasted goose Illiger's macaw Satyr tragopan Sarus crane Laughing kookaburra Military macaw Sun conure Bar-headed goose Black swan Temminck's tragopan Crested wood partridge White pelican White stork Eclectus parrot Argus monitor Green anaconda Green iguana Yellow anaconda Yellow-footed tortoise Boa constrictor Leopard tortoise Madascar ground-boa Corn snake American alligator Chameleon Red-footed tortoise Red-eared slider Common snapping turtle Spider turtle African spurred tortoise Cane toad Four-lined tree frog Golden poison frog Californian newt Chinese gliding frog White's tree frog Oriental fire-bellied toad Cranwell's horned frog Red-eyed tree frog Iberian ribbed newt Tiger salamander Tomato frog Leaf-cutter ants Electric eel Spotted gar Goldfish Chinese snakehead-fish Koi Black-finned pacufish Giant pangasius Red-bellied piranha Red-headed cichlid Red-tailed catfish Motoro stingray This zoo looks like it will have a pretty good collection, for being so new, and our zoos in Sweden aren't so good with their collections either. There are also plans in the future of building exhibits for lions and tigers, so we'll see what will happen in the future...
I have only just recently been made aware about this new and up-coming zoo in the south of Sweden, thanks to the local papers reporting about a monkey escape from it. It all sounds very promising and serious to me and as I live in the south of Sweden I will be looking forward to visiting it when it opens next year.
You mention bontebok, i would be quite sure these would in fact be blesbok, as there are no bontebok in Europe any more. That also applies to the giant eland too, but then again you never know. Here's the animal list, taken from the homepage. African pygmy goat African hedgehog Bontebok Cotton-top tamarin Pygmy marmoset Giant eland Flying foxes Wildebeest
I might be on thin ice here, as I do not have anywhere near the knowledge that so many of you forumsters have, but is giant eland really an unusual (even non-existant) species in European zoos? Copenhagen Zoo held this species until the new African savanna was created and I believe that the eland herd was simply sent off to some other Danish zoo?
Söderåsens Zoo won't have any rare species but it does seem to be an interesting zoo and I look forward to visiting it. The Tropikcenter in Halmstad has closed down and will move its entire collection to Söderåsen. @Dan: Giant elands do not exist in European zoos and Copenhagen Zoo has never kept this species. We used to keep common elands as almost every other zoo in Europe that keeps eland does (very few keep cape elands or East African elands). @kiang: You are right about both species. It will be common eland and bleskbok rather than giant eland and bontebok.
Does anyone know what happened to the Söderråsens Djurpark project? From what I can read on their website the project has been taken over by something called Tamarin Djurpark. Did they run out of money and had to sell? It says on the website for the Tamarin Djurpark that they hope to open the park during the summer.
From what I've read in Swedish newspapers: Ljungskogens Djurpark imported animals illegally and when they applied for a "zoo license" from Swedish authorities they were instead charged with criminal offenses (the illegal importation being one, unpaid bills and taxes an other). They later changes their name first to Söderåsens Djurpark, then Breeding farm and now Tamarin Djurpark. They also bought the animals from Tropikcenter, a small, indoor city zoo from Halmstad. However, not all animals were collected from the premises and apparently a turtle was left behind as well as some invertebrates. This is also under investigation from the authorities. From in information available the same people are behind the park, even though the name keeps on changing. They have also sold animals, collected the money but never delivered the animals. This is a sad story that we surely will be following for a long time since the owners of the park seems very set on opening sooner or later. One can only hope that they will get their affairs straight first. I believe people should be given a second chance but this is a travesty since new problems occur all the time.
Hi I get this from the Tamarin Djurpark in e-mail. It is translated with google, so everything isn´t right. "Hi Rickard. You had some questions about our park, which I gladly answer. Yes we are taking over the south ridge of land in Billesholm and lease substantially all of their old land and buildings. We have also taken over some of Söderåsens animals but not all. I have no list, but now they are about 20 species. We plan to open the zoo as soon as we received all permits for public exhibition ready. Our hope is that we open some time after midsummer, but we have much work left. We want everything to be tip top at the opening. At the opening, there is not all the animals with which we want in the future. We hope for some more animals in the future but we are open on a smaller scale. It also depends on what county administrative board to allow us to have. We are very careful not to have any problems with the authorities so we want to maintain an ongoing dialogue with them. Thus the first condition since animals. In the slightly longer term, we have big ambitions in the animal side and want to show up a lot of interesting animals to the public in nice enclosures and cages. Have more questions, just let us know. Yours sincerely Thomas Berglund Chairman of the Economic association Tamarin Djurpark"
Right, so does ANYBODY know ANYTHING about what is going on at Tamarin Djurpark? There appears to be no official website. Does it even hold any animals? And is it open for visitors?
They had aquired loads of animals, including various primates before they applied for a "zoo permit" which you need before you can legally hold primates, non-domestic carnivores(excluding badgers) in Sweden. Some of the animals were malnourished and in a pretty sad state, others looked good. As far as I know the entire project is down now. After the owners got arrested the animals were either put down, some even on site, or distributed to various zoo´s and holding areas in Sweden.