That definitely sucks - I also hope not too many tourists from far away had looked forward to visiting the zoo (though of course, there's still the Tierpark). Maybe this is a very stupid question, but is work and research being done to prevent avian flu from having the impact it currently has? In recent years, we've heard billions of news about zoos having to close bird houses and walkthrough aviaries in the cold months, and Berlin's case of closing down the entire zoo is particularly extreme. That won't work in the long term - either zoos have to almost entirely stop keeping birds to avoid all this trouble, or they'll have to find a better way to protect their birds. I've heard of zoos that vaccinated their birds against avian flu in the late summer - couldn't Berlin have done that, or isn't it feasible because they have so many birds compared to the average zoo?
The main French zoos (Beauval, Vincennes, Thoiry...) vaccinate their birds. In recent months some zoos (Beauval, Aigles du Léman) had to stop temporarily their free-flight shows when avian flu cases have been noticed nearby. I haven't heard specific issues with walkthrough greenhouses and aviaries (in these zoos), in absence of contact with wild waterfowl. I know one case of complete closure of a park (Sigean) for some weeks but the case is very special : it's a very large zoo with animals in semi-free condition, including large numbers of birds as pelicans, flamingos and ibises, and that contains a large lake (where numerous wild birds live) in the middle of a major migration corridor.
Both Berlin Zoo and Tierpark have numerous lakes/ponds, channels and the like. There is also a substantial number of wild ducks, herons, coots etc. that mingle with pelicans, flamingos, penguins and so on (especially where the zoo birds get fed, there is a whole lot of mingling). So if there is one case, there could very well be more. Let's hope for the best but at least be prepared for it. By the way: Just as the Zoo closed down, Berlin Tierpark is bringing all relevant birds behind the scenes as well (as it starts to get quite cold anyways, this isn't that big of a change).
On the 14th of October a Northern Narrow-striped boky (Mungotictis decemlineata decemlineata) was born! Source: Instagram of Zoo Berlin (14/11/2022) (This is also my 2000th message on this forum )
Berlin Zoo reopens on December 24th. There are some minor regulations to follow by all visitors, but nothing which would be too annoying.
