Does anyone know anything about Romanian zoos? I need to know what year Zoo Brasov was established/opened, and also the size (hectares) of Zoo Brasov. I have tried to contact the zoo, but no response. For both Zoo Brasov and Zoo Tirgu-Mures, I would love to find out the Number of Species/Specimens for Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, and Invertebrates for these two zoos.
Yes, and it has been fully reconstructed around 2016, if I remember well. As far as I know they have the only snow leopards in Romania.
If this thread is actual yet, I would like to share things about Tirgu Mures zoo, too. The zoo has been founded in the 60s, now it's the size-wise biggest and objectively best zoo in Romania. Tirgu Mures zoo is an EAZA member. They have a huge mixed-species enclosure with Brown bears and wolves. The zoo is the only one insitution of the country that keeps elephants, they have an old female from Budapest. The zoo's current director is Horatiu Gorea.
The parking lot and all the streets around it were full of parked cars. Luckily there was still a gap. At the entrance a long line greeted you (by previous standards). The zoo only closes at 8 p.m., so that you can do your round(s) here without stress. The zoo was founded in 1960 and officially became Brașov Zoo in 1992. After Romania joined the EU, the zoo was in very poor condition, not up to modern standards of animal husbandry, and was put on a list with many other zoos to be closed. In order to save the zoo, it was closed in June 2012 for expansion and modernization work as part of the program "Implementation and Realization of Investment Projects to Achieve the Standards Required for Zoo Licensing". During this work, the area of the zoo was increased from four to ten hectares and all animal areas were rearranged, modernized and/or enlarged. The project also aimed to create more recreational and educational opportunities besides the "simple" opportunity to see some animals. When the zoo reopened in October 2014, in addition to the new farm buildings (animal clinic, offices, feed kitchen) to ensure and maintain the services offered, visitors could also enjoy a children's playground, a café in the garden or the tropical oasis in the exotics building. The aquarium opened in 2017 and a water park for penguins and seals is currently being built. Right at the entrance you were greeted by a family from Northern Guerezas. The Guerezas came as a group from Rotterdam in 2018 and are already breeding in Brasov. The round with a few detours to a few special facilities/animals then took almost 3 hours in total. Short side info: the pools in the complex were mostly empty. The trip was just after warmer temperatures, just before there was still frost. The pools are filled at the beginning of the season... So after the trip. We basically experienced a lot in preparation for the season. It's much more pronounced than ours. Photos of the facility.
Along the botanical garden we went to the entrance of the zoo Tirgu-Mures (former name of the city, today it is called Targu-Mures - a bit confusing, but that's how it is). In the past, the two facilities probably belonged together or you could take a small train from the parking lot to the zoo. Nowadays the route is paralyzed but stocked with food stalls - unfortunately these were all closed. Tirgu Mures Zoo is located in the eastern part of the city, on the Cornesti Plateau, at an altitude of 488 m above sea level or 197 m above the city, in a large forest. The zoo was established in 1965 in the former Hungarian Autonomous Region on an area of about 600 - 700 m² where 3 wolves, 2 bears, 2 wild boars, 2 pheasants and deer lived. The zoo was gradually expanded and now covers an area of around 40 hectares. The Monkey House opened in 1990 and became the first building of its type and size in the country. In 2004 the modernization of the garden was started by changing the infrastructure, ie the water, gas and electricity networks were completely renewed. And the paths have been newly asphalted and fully equipped with lighting. Every year since then new houses have been built or old ones improved to meet European zoo standards. During our visit, unfortunately, the elephant house was on. There were no giraffes in the zoo when we visited. However, two new ones arrived in August 2022: "Pumpkin" & "Kamala" - the only Romanian giraffes. Note: According to Google Maps measurements, I end up with 0.85 ha for the elephants and 0.56 ha for the antelope/zebra/giraffe enclosure. The two elephants (the only ones in Romanian zoos) are born in 1967 & 1974. Next to the elephants there is a pond in which the ring-tailed lemurs have gotten an island, but they probably hesitate to use it regularly. The ring-tailed lemurs live in two groups in the zoo. The other group stayed in the old monkey house for a visit. However, in the summer they received a different system in the "Big Cat House". In this house, too, renovation work was taking place during the visit and the animals had therefore moved within the house and some of the enclosures were not occupied (see below). The barn of the farm was also renovated in our time (we were only aware of that). The work was completed over the summer and it is now accessible to visitors again. One of the first buildings is the lion house, which has so far housed almost all of the zoo's cats, but is currently only "inhabited" by lions (and Hamadryas baboons) and raccoons/coatis as neighbors. One of the lionesses, Jenny (15 y.), gave birth to two cubs at the facility on June 1st (International Children's Day). The last litter was born five years ago. In the evening, however, the mother moved into the house with her young animals. Since mid-August they have been on display outside again. And now to the conversion/blocking reason of the predator house In addition to its own lions, Tirgu-Mures took in nine lions from the Odesa Bio-Park in May (judging by the photos it looks like a family group with growing tomcats) Lionel De Lange, owner of a South African wildlife park, has lived in since 2014 of Ukraine and rescues bears, wolves and lions from unsafe conditions through the Warriors of Wildlife. The 13 people, made up of British Army veterans and a veterinarian, met at midnight in the parking lot of a hotel in the town of Suceava, some 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. In order to avoid Russian attacks, de Lange had to change the planned route at short notice. So he decided to travel through Moldova and applied for a new set of CITES documents. The rescue team arrived in Odessa at 4 p.m. on a Monday, too late to complete the seven-hour calming and loading operation. The zoo's owner paid for them to stay in a five-star seaside hotel, where the lights were turned off at 9 p.m. to prevent Russian missiles from detecting them. During the day, four crates were loaded into a van driven by the rescue coordinator, four more crates into an ex-military truck, and one into a converted ambulance. According to Lange, the most difficult part of the mission was finding a zoo in Romania that would house nine lions, the largest of which weighed 230 kilograms. The city of Târgu Mureş has agreed to accept lions until September 1 if de Lange finds them a permanent home in a SUA sanctuary. In 2007, the project "Renovation and Modernization of the Zoo in Tîrgu-Mureş" was launched. This project, worth 4.5 million euros, included: - the enlargement of the garden area from 20 ha to 40 ha - Creation of a 5 ha semi-reserve for bears and wolves - Creation of a semi-reserve for European herbivores of 10 ha - Building a cat house - Construction of a pond bird pond, with the rehabilitation of the lake - the construction of an Africa house for giraffes and elephants and the establishment of a 1.5 hectare facility for these animals. The white tigers Indira and Adelina were relatively fresh in the big cat house. A younger sister moved in a few months ago. After about 5 hours everything was visited, sometimes several times, and we continued. Pictures of the zoo.
