Saarbrücken Zoo

Saarbrücken Zoo
Saarbrücken Zoo
	Main Entrance
	49°13′50.74″N 7°2′22.49″E / 49.2307611°N 7.0395806°E
Slogan	Hallo im Zoo
Date opened	1956
Location	Graf-Stauffenberg-Straße 66121 Saarbrücken, Germany
Land area	13 hectares (32.1 acres)
No. of animals	1760 Tierarten aus Afrika, Südamerika und Madagaskar
No. of species	160 Species
Annual visitors	260.000 (2014)
Memberships	EAZA, WAZA
Director	Richard Francke
Website	www.zoo.saarbruecken.de

The Saarbrücken Zoo (German: Zoologischer Garten der Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken) is with over 200.000 visitors annually, and over 1.700 animals from 160 Species the largest Zoo in Saarland. The Zoo is specialized in African animals.^[1]

History

In 1870, the land for the present Zoo was used as a quarry, and until 1926 a funicular. The old Zoo was founded in 1932, but became totally destroyed during World War II. 1956 the work started to rebuild the zoo on a new site, consisting 15 hectares (37.1 acres) on the foot of the hill Eschberges.

In February 1995 the elephant Danka killed the head elephant keeper Uwe Rothe, by headbutting him against a wall, and a year later,^{[clarification needed]} in March 2006, both elephants were sold to Alexandria Zoo in Egypt where both elephants died the same day a month later.^[4]^[5]

During the end of 2005 the north gate closed due to less visitors coming to the zoo, and some northern parts of zoo was redesigned to residential building. The longtime Director Vaclav Ceska was removed from office, and plans were made to renew the popularity among the public of Saarbrücken.

Since 2008 a lot of improvements have been made, including renewing of enclosures and contact with financing sponsors.