Prague, March 31 (CTK) – The Prague zoo will build a new gorilla pavilion this year, and also a new Australian section to host species such as the largest surviving marsupial, the Tasmanian devil, director Miroslav Bobek said at the opening of the zoo’s 87th season on Saturday.
The Prague City Hall earmarked a financial sum for the Australian section in 2016.
The construction of the gorilla pavilion was originally to start in 2016, but it was delayed due to protests from the district town hall and two local associations in the Prague-Troja neighbourhood, which disagreed with the plan.
The present gorilla pavilion is situated in the lower part of the hilly zoological garden near the Vltava River, and may be endangered by floods, as was the case in 2002, where it was completely inundated and the gorilla group had to be evacuated.
The zoo has been successful in gorilla breeding. Seven young gorillas have been born there since 2004, but two have not survived.
Bobek said the upcoming season in the zoo will be accompanied by the Rare and Unique campaign promoting less known and less popular but still endangered animal species.
“Our zoo leads programmes for the salvation of some of them,” Bobek said.
The zoo ranks among Prague’s sites most popular with tourists. Since 2005, the number of visitors has annually crossed one million. Last year, it was visited by 1,445,126 people, the second highest number in its history.
Bobek said that 1,261 offspring of 219 animal species were born in the zoo last year, including rare species such as the Malayan tiger or the Palm cockatoo.
