The city of Strasbourg is presenting this Tuesday, July 2, its new educational space for the Parc de l’Orangerie, the outlines of which were voted on by the city council at the end of June. A campaign promise that breaks with the former small zoo that aroused indignation. Activities will begin in the summer of 2024.
No more concrete enclosures and cramped animals. The new educational animal park of the Orangerie (Strasbourg) will replace the old small zoo, closed since August 2022. DIn fact, most of the animals had already left their cages in the previous months. The iconic lynx left in 2017.
The zoo will become a place of initiation to nature and the environment open to all, with a program “of activities and conferences around wildlife, biodiversity, ethology and animal welfare“, specifies the City of Strasbourg. The project is coordinated by the Sine association.
The German foundation Alternative Bärenpark will offer activities on the discovery of wild fauna (bears, wolves and lynx), their protection and their reintroduction. This foundation has created a reserve of more than 15 hectares in Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach (Baden-Württemberg), a refuge for mistreated animals.
An initiation center for ethology – the study of animal behavior – will also be set up by the Ethosph’R association. It is responsible for placing animals (rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, dwarf pigs and chickens) “in retirement” that have been the subject of behavioral studies at the CNRS, in order to rehabilitate and resocialize them.
Lynxes were among the iconic animals at the Orangerie Zoo, but their conditions of detention were widely criticized.
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© Dominique Gutekunst. MaxPPP.
A relay point for wildlife in distress will be managed by the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). Injured birds and small wild mammals can be brought to this location, thus offering an alternative to the Rosenwiller center (Bas-Rhin) located 30 kilometers from Strasbourg. This is the part of the project that will see the light of day the latest, probably around 2026 or 2027, because major work is necessary.
A grant of €150,000 is allocated by the city of Strasbourg, and distributed between the different stakeholders (€50,000 for Sine, €40,000 for the LPO and €60,000 for Ethosph’R).
Beyond the closure of the zoo, the Orangerie park, located near the European institutions, has seen a drop in activities in recent years. Only the small boat and cart rental remains, the crepe and ice cream vendors inside the park remain closed. New operators should soon take over, assures the town hall.
“Nearly four hundred thousand euros have been invested in the new playground and the rehabilitation of the kiosks.“, says the city’s deputy, Suzanne Brolly, in charge of green spaces and urban planning.
