For a zoo, it’s a quiet and lonely place. Among the few remaining residents of Paris’ main animal park are the giraffes — whose long necks make travel inconvenient — and a hippo who was permitted to stay put after she threw a temper tantrum in a shipping crate.
Closed since 2008, and its animals mostly shipped abroad, the aging zoo in Paris’ Vincennes woods has been awaiting a badly needed renovation. On Wednesday, officials finally announced a 133 million euro (US$181 million) overhaul through a public-private partnership, which they hope will create a zoo befitting one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
The animal park, officially called the Zoological Park of Paris, will reopen in 2014. In the meantime, “the giraffes will oversee the construction site,” said Bertrand-Pierre Galey, who runs France’s National Museum of Natural History, which encompasses the zoo.
The zoo has not had major work done since it opened in 1934, and its crumbling displays — including faux cliffs and rocks made out of concrete — eventually became a safety hazard.
“The rocks were deteriorating, and it was getting dangerous for the personnel, the public and the animals,” said Genevieve Beraud-Bridenne, director of the museum’s department of botanic gardens and zoos.
The new design is sleek and aims to recreate animals’ natural ecosystems as closely as possible.
A glass-domed greenhouse will replicate an Amazonian rain forest.
White rhinos and West African lions will roam on a savanna covered with dry shrubs. Another zone will recreate the rocky terrain of Patagonia, with Humboldt penguins. Ten zones are planned in total.
The zoo will showcase many threatened species, such as several types of lemurs native to Madagascar, among the 1,000-plus animals on display. The priority is the animals’ health and happiness: There will be no elephants because there isn’t enough space for them.
An emphasis will be put on education and research, and a longer-term goal is to reintroduce some endangered species into the wild.
French Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno said officials discussed at length whether zoos still have a role in the 21st century or whether their time has come and gone. But they decided that zoos are now scientific research centers and help explain issues like biodiversity to the general public.
“This zoo project is a strong denial of the notion that zoos are out of date,” she said.
Once the museum reopens, tickets will cost an average of 13.66 euros. The overhaul is to be funded through a public-private partnership signed on Wednesday.
The natural history museum will share the financial burden with a consortium called Chrysalis, specially set up for the project and includes building group Bouygues Construction.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including