BERLIN ZOO SEEKS BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION

The ongoing wave of the pandemic in Europe threatens the work of zoos. In Germany, where the authorities decided to extend quarantine measures until December 20, the management of Berlin Zoo announced its possible bankruptcy - visitor traffic fell by 65%.

Social restrictions that prevent visitors from looking at animals in closed enclosures, the need to wear masks - all this has led to a decrease in the flow of guests who come to Berlin to visit the zoo.

The management of organization has once again called on caring citizens to make donations.

They can be made through the website of the organization or via SMS. Back in the spring of 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, the head of the zoo, Katharina Sperling, said that all possible measures would be taken to protect the animals in the face of extreme funding cuts. The employees of the Berlin Zoo were especially outraged by the plans of colleagues from the Neumünster Zoo - to slaughter some animals for the sake of feeding others.

Berlin Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in Europe. It was opened more than a century and a half ago, in 1844. According to the official data, about € 140,000 are allocated daily for the operation of the three main locations of the Berlin Zoo (the zoo itself, the Tierpark Zoological Garden and the Aquarium water complex).

Six months ago, the VdZ Association of German zoos already applied to the government with a request for an allocation of € 100 million.

It is not known whether budget funding will be allocated for the rescue this time. The hope remains for the collection of donations and other measures taken earlier.

For the period of the pandemic, the number of the investments and construction projects has been cut. The work schedule of employees has been changed as well, forcing some of the staff to change their lifestyle by moving to the territory of the zoo in order to maintain a familiar life for their wards.

Some experts recommend colleagues from Berlin to follow the example of the staff of the Munich Krone Zoo, who began to sell the excrement of predatory felines (26 tigers and lions that live in the zoo).

A can of excrement costs only € 5 - rural residents buy them to scare away wild animals intending to gnaw wires or damage vehicles.

The Berlin Zoo was seriously damaged during the Second World War - it was bombed heavily. For the safety reasons, some dangerous animals were killed by the park rangers, many that escaped from the enclosures were killed later on the city streets. The current situation in Germany has already begun to be compared with the one in which the capital's zoo found itself during the war.