Also, one light-hearted comment about "estabilishig the European population" I forgot to add to my initial post: To paraphrase a certain Czech comedy: Swedish novelist August Strindberg was caught blowing smoke from his pipe to the sink with water, trying to make gold this way. And we say: "Look how stupid idea was born in such brilliant mind." But isn't it better to say: "It was Strindberg who found out that you cant make gold by blowing smoke to the sink?" Someone had to try it. Someone had to discover this dead end and tell the world: "Not this way my friends." We can say that Plzen is true pioneer of discovering those dead ends in animal keeping...
@TeaLovingDave: I don't have much to add. My 3-0 vote against Plzen was because I fundamentally disagree with its collectionist philosophy, as argued by @lintworm. However, this raises bigger issues in other categories. I also haven't visited for a few years and I'm very glad to hear the situation is improving. Basically, I'm a floating voter. @HOMIN96's honest defence of Plzen, coupled with the lack of advocacy for Columbus, convinced me to vote 2-1 in its favour. Strong arguments may sway me again. And I ended up swimming with the tide in Detroit-Berlin
I suspected this was the case, given your distaste for collectionist philosophy has long-since been established in various discussions throughout the site I was merely surprised you'd voted so strongly against the place when I've also seen you list it in your European top 10 collections!
As a visitor and a mammal junkie, I love Plzen. But I'm increasingly convinced that my one day's enjoyment of a zoo is negligible in comparison to the welfare of the inhabitants, who spend their lives there. A 2-1 vote against Plzen would have indicated my visit is half as important as welfare. It isn't.
