It seems to me that these are the individuals that I saw in October 2012, in Terrarium Praha (Czech Republic).
And they are on display in the Snake House,quite the largest and most impressive specimens of the species ive ever seen. Also coming soon are Common Wallaroos - the nominate subspecies too,which is interesting as zootierliste does not show any holders...even so these animals have been located in Europe.Im not alone in wondering if all this kind of thing might come to a halt when BB goes{sadly].
Well ZTL do list Wallaroos under "no specific subspecies" at three collections,nonetheless they will be unique in Germany...Opels old pair are a different ssp. The Brehm House refurb is now said to be two months from completion[inside at least,nothing happening to the external cat cages as yet].
Upcoming director, Mr. Knieriem, was previously director of Munich and earlier Hannover zoos. Anybody knows which exhibits in Munich come from Mr Knierem? Munich has some very good sections, some quite average modernized ones and some rather poor ones.
Under Dr. Knierim in Munich there have been reconstructions of the the polar bear enclosure, the giraffe house, the penguins got the biggest swimming lane (50m) in Europe. Maybe there was more work done, I haven't heard about. He modernized the information system for visitors and a lot of the technique behind the scenes. One employee was quoted as saying that he introduced changes they thought would never be possible. In a comparatively short period of time he brought the zoo down from 12 to 4 in the Sheridan ranking. He is widely respected and apparently he will be just as sadly missed as many people here can't wait to see him coming.
Thanks a lot! I wanted to know what to expect. Certainly I hope that Mr Knieriem will keep the character of Berlin zoos, especially rich collection and bringing new species to Europe. Concerning the work of Mr Knieriem at Munich. I understand that best parts of Hellabrun (hoofed animals, giant aviary, hall for chimpanzees and gorillas) come from before his time? Polar bear exhibit is better, but nothing special. Penguins are very standard (and no underwater viewing if I remember well, or I mistaken which penguin exhibit is the new one). There are still poor exhibits: unnatural, hard orangutan exhibit, too small lion exhibit, and concrete rhino house should be demolished. Not to diminish any of the good directors, but work of Mr Knieriem seems maybe equal but not any better than Mr Blaszkiewitz. I think eg. rebuilding bear rocks in Berlin Zoo is exactly the same kind as polar bear renovation in Munich. So I am a little surprised why some people are excited with change. Of course, both Mr Blaszkiewitz and Mr Knieriem have to face the same problem: lack of funds for new exhibits. I hope the city will give some much-needed funds. Without these nothing can be done.
As I don't want to restart the discussion about Blaszkiewitz, I wonder if you have ever come across the reasons why he had to go. It is about animals, but not only. If you know German I could post you a link to an interview with Dr. Kniriem: Apart from his obvious human qualities he is also supposed to be excellent in management and fund raising. According to one newspaper he gets phone calls every day, couldn't he come earlier.
I am curious if he is such a good fund raiser in poor Berlin too. Things work differently there. Let's hope for the best.
For the time being Berlin is a bit more generous than it used to be. The senate just allowed for 5 mio € for a playing ground/ farm area in the Tierpark. This money was already promised when Blaszkiewitz was still in charge, but now with the succession so close he won't be allowed to manage any new large construction cites. I'm not even sure if the outside boxes for the cats will still be started under his direction.
I do understand German, and I believe I have read it. But, I have also heard that mr Blaszkiewitz had forbidden the personell to attend the presentation of the new director...... And that is only one example.....
Im wondering here,how many people here actually went to the Tierpark in the early nineties before BB got to work in renewing the place and can remember it like it was.In truth he has done a fantastic job there.
Tim, fully agreed there. My firsts are well from beyond the Iron Curtain. Certainly, loved the place then ... and BB with meagre funds has done a great job. It has always been a question of funding ... If the Bundesland and Municipality had been more forthcoming (and had not been so hellbent on erasing the DDR past) he could have achieved a lot more ... Keep an open mind on Dr. Knierim ..., but he has yet to really prove himself in zoological quarters (even the Masterplan in Muenchen was more Wiesner's thing ...). The only probable minus with Dr. Blaskiewitz is his stature among the working class staff ..., but I do not see that change with Knierim either.
Sorry for getting a little bit OT. The rebuilding of the polar bear exhibit (with integration of the former muskox/beaver exhibit) was initiated, planned and started by Knieriem's predecessor in office, Henning Wiesner, who was/is also responsible for the rhino concrete "ufo", the great ape building of 2003 and the Jungle Tent with the mentioned small lion exhibit (among others). The changes initiated by Knieriem that I've observed during my last visit of Hellabrunn this autumn have not always been that original and innovative as often propagandized by his supports. Some are improvements, some are not. Several appear to be half-baked attempts to mainly obliterate any reminders of his predecessor. I see no sense in removing older but nevertheless functional and useful information signs (like the one nicely illustrating the differences between the different forms of bisons or the origin story of the Heck cattle) without any adequate alternatives/replacements. Knieriem's departure leaves the staff at Hellabrunn bewildered of what is to come next. He is not the only current German zoo director deliberately leaving a solid tenure for (apparently) greener pastures; the current director of Erfurt Zoo, Thomas Kölpin, is leaving behind a zoo that has just started organizing its new elephant husbandry project, for the zoo director position at the more renowned Wilhelma in Stuttgart, starting January 2014. Can't say the local zoo community and stakeholders at Erfurt are too pleased about the sudden departure... As for Berlin: Let's see what Knieriem can deliver. As previously mentioned by another commentator, the local yellow press and politicians in Berlin have lavished advance praise on K. by the bucket, but they will be the first to tar and feather him when anything is not to their liking. And that can be anything...
@Batto: Very well written. Not to forget that Kölpin can organize another elephant husbandry project at Stuttgart too...
Do you speak of the time before the wall went down? That wouldn't be a fair comparison. Or did you visit afterwards, when the "Westberlin" zoo had already served himself with "Tierpark" animals, 127 of the staff had been thrown out together with their director Dathe ? I still think it is a shame what happened at that time, especially to Dr. Dathe, and I feel sorry that it was not him to get the chance to improve the place.
