Ostrava Zoo

 Ostrava Zoo

Zoological garden Ostrava is located in Stromovka in Ostrava, in the Silesia Ostrava district. It is the founding member of the Union of Czech and Slovak Zoological Gardens, a member of the Union of Botanical Gardens of the Czech Republic, a member of the European Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquariums and a member of the World Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquariums.

In July of 1947, a trade union organization and factory council of the Zárubek mine handled a proposal to build a Park of rest. It had to be located on parcels of OKD in Kunčičky with a total area of ​​​​6.5 ha. On the territory between the Old and Jubilee colonies, in addition to the park, a bathhouse was also to be built. The park was founded according to a decision of the factory council on February 4, 1948, and immediately on February 15, 1948, a Working Committee was appointed for the establishment of a park and bathhouse in Kunčičky in front of Eng. architect E. Galuzska.

In fact, the entire park was built in the form of brigades, in which workers from the Zárubek and Alexander mines participated, as well as residents of Kunčičky and the rest of Ostrava. School youth also joined. In the year 1948, the first 600 meters of slag roads were built and the construction of a natural amphitheater began. In 1949 they started building two tennis courts and volleyball courts. In July of the same year, a children's splash pool was solemnly inaugurated during the presence of the then mayor Josef Kotas. On the initiative of Bohumil Vítek, who was at the birth of the idea to create the park in 1947, the first animals appeared in the park. It was about a male roe deer and two female roe deer, five pheasants, a few peacocks and more birds. Their first nurse was precisely Bohumil Vítek.

In the spring of 1950, a pheasant aviary (56 m²), a bird aviary and a glasshouse (24 m²) were built for wintering the flock. On July 9 of the same year, ready-made sports fields were opened and on Miners' Day a natural amphitheater with electric lighting was completed.

The year 1951 was very important for the future zoological garden. In January, workers from the Ministry of Information and Education visited Ostrava, who explored the possibility of establishing a permanent zoological garden. Although there were various discussions about its existence in Ostrava and city officials considered another variant, it was during a further visit by the workers of the ministry that it was recommended to start the construction of a zoo. This time the delegation from Prague was also filled by experts from the Prague Zoo and the National Museum. The part of the recommendation was also a task to look for a suitable place for the construction of the definitive zoological garden.

During the 83rd regular meeting of the advisory council of the Unity National Committee in Ostrava (UNK), which took place on June 15, 1951, it was recommended that the full session of the UNK approve the takeover of the zoological garden in Kunčičky for ongoing management. and service, namely with actual validity from May 1, 1951. During the 11th regular plenary session of UNK held on October 26, 1951 the recommendation was accepted. This date is the official date of the establishment of the Ostrava Zoo. On July 15, 1951, the Park of Rest was renamed Mining Park by Maxim Gorky.

Rhino race track

The area in Kunčičky was continuously filled with engineering networks and further buildings. The most significant of them was a bear house, in which lived a pair of brown bears donated by the Prague zoo. The bear house had a cage type; two racecourses were joined by a masonry housing complex with four sites. Further buildings were wooden stables for horses and ponies, a six-part bird aviary and a pheasant aviary. Little by little, cages were built for raccoons, squirrels and vultures, as well as an aviary for parrots and canaries and a dovecote.

In the year 1952, a subcommittee for the zoo was established at the educational commission of UNK, whose president was elected Bohumil Vítek. He worked in public services and parks of the city of Ostrava. The Ostrava zoo, in which six people worked at the time, fell into this enterprise. In the area, 370 meters of roads were regulated, 540 meters of wire fence were built and the construction of kennels for small predatory animals began.

In 1953, a lion enclosure and a zoo kitchen with a warehouse of animal feed were built. In the same year, the subcommittee realized that there was not enough water for the planned bathhouse, so the deepened place was used as a fish pond for waterfowl. On May 22, 1953, the zoological garden was declared as an independent counting and managing cultural-educational equipment of UNK. Its director was named Bohumil Vítek, who until now directed it as a boss. In that year, four areas were considered for transporting the zoo - Stromovka, Bělský Forest, Radvanice and Vřesina.. The committee of experts recommended the Stromovka area for its advantages - broken terrain, diverse forest vegetation, enough water and a built water conduit, good transport conditions and assumptions for a food base.

In 1954 toilets for the public, a music pavilion, a children's corner and a cash desk were completed. On Miners' Day, the waterfowl fish pond was opened. The fencing of the area was also completed. A year later exhibitions of aquariums and exotic birds were opened, housing for monkeys, kangaroos, wild boars and guanacos were built. A wooden clubhouse with a library served for educational purposes. At that time, the zoo already employed 17 people.

On January 30, 1956, a proposal was processed for the cultural department of the Regional National Committee and the Ministry of Culture for the relocation of the zoo from Kunčičky to Stromovka. Costs had to reach 287 thousand Kčs. In October, "Jack", the young Asian elephant, was brought in, which became the biggest attraction of the zoo.

The year 1957 was favorable for the garden from a material point of view - the zoo acquired its own Škoda 806-RS pickup truck, a projector, a tape recorder, a camera and an epidiascope.

By the year 1960, no stable buildings were being built and everything was being prepared for the transport into the new area. In February of 1960, the transfer of the flock of birds and the small predatory animals began, as the bears were the last to be transferred in the fall.

The area under construction was opened to the public for the first time on May 1, 1960. The animals were housed in temporary conditions and with the arrival of winter they were transferred to a heated depot in the management part. From December 1, 1960, the zoo was closed to the public again. This year, the Ostrava Transport Company built a trolley bus turnaround next to the zoo.

In the years 1961 - 1970 a basic circle was created for the visitors and basic administrative buildings were completed. New breeding equipment from that time includes the bear den, a pavilion for large feline predators, an elephant pavilion and a primate pavilion. Newly built were lynx, chimpanzee and large deer runs. On the night of the 30th to the 31st of January 1964, Jack the elephant died after falling into a ditch. The lynx has been systematically bred since 1965 and it has become the emblematic animal of the Ostrava zoo. In this year, a row of new species was brought from the Soviet Union, such as flamingos, red-breasted geese, common cranes and whooping cranes. In December it acquired a pair of jaguars in exchange for 76 birds and 30 mammals. Expressed in money, it was about the exchange worth DM 6,500.

In the seventies there was an intensive construction investment. The services to the visitors improved, in addition to the opening of a parking lot and a self-service restaurant. The zoo acquired new species of animals and with many of them it managed to raise young. It was e.g. on South American tapir, Indian tapir, Hainanese deer and Oriental deer. In the year 1972, a general repair of the bear house began, which ended two years later. In 1980, an exchange of grids with safety glass was started in the primate pavilion. In December, a pair of red lynx was brought in, but the zoo did not expect cubs until 1990.

In the eighties, there was a radical limitation of investments and only objects that had already been built were finished (porcupine racetrack, addition of an administrative building, waste water treatment plant, teaching center, the pavilion of small predatory animals, a pavilion of waterfowl and a pavilion of giraffes and African ungulates). They managed to breed cubs of Cuban flamingo, royal crane, Syrian bear, red lynx, Ceylon panther, sacred hulman and many birds. Giraffes have been an attractive part of the zoo since 1987.

Currently, thanks to endowments from the founder and other subjects, the area is being renovated - the old racetracks and airfields are being repaired, the construction of new equipment was successfully completed (e.g. elephant pavilion, airfields for large birds of prey, etc.) , the exhibitions are made accessible for the disabled, there are information boards installed for the blind. The zoo gets the money traditionally from people and from organizations that will decide to "adopt" a certain animal, or in a modern way with the help of the so-called. gift SMS

Botanical park

The area of ​​zoo creates the so-called. A large Ostrava forest extending northeast of the center of Ostrava at an altitude of 260 meters above sea level. Its total area is almost 92 hectares. The forest growths create 71 hectares, the water areas 4 hectares and the rest are meadows, fields and buildings. The species composition of the forest is very colorful, almost 400 species of deciduous trees, 150 species of conifers and 310 species of perennials grow here. According to floristic research from the year 2003, almost 450 species of infertile growing plants from 68 families live here. The most significant of them are European beech trees, whose age is estimated at 150 years. Some examples have a perimeter of 350 cm and the oldest of them even 474 cm.

In harmony with the concept of the leadership of the zoo, there is a gradual botanization of the garden. In the first phase, completed on June 29, 2007, three botanical paths were made accessible in the extensive part of the Stromovka area with a line of extremely valuable botanical parts - Path of water, Path of shade and Path of forest. Furthermore, new residence spaces were built - Bird's meadow, Sun meadow, Elephant's playground and Balcony. As part of the botanization, a few dozen species of new plants were also planted. In the first phase, six park roads of various widths, three bridges and one overpass, more walkways, small ponds and places full of greenery were built, on which there is no shortage of places with various attractions for children. In total, 25 original objects were installed, a new information system was built and 2,600 pieces of new plants were planted, totaling a few dozen species.