If everything goes well, 2025 will go down in the history of the Opel Zoo with a major event. In May or June, the elephant cow Kariba is to give birth to a young animal after 22 months. It would be the first elephant birth in the Zoo in Taunus for 57 years. The veterinarian and the carers prepare everything for it. Because nobody from the staff has been there at an elephant birth, the employees go to Wuppertal and receive a visit from there. The zoo in North Rhine-Westphalia has a very good breed for African elephants, said zoo director Thomas Kauffels in Kronberg on Wednesday. No elephant cow Lilak had already attended a birth: she was born when Kariba was born-and thus The greatest experience. Together, Kariba and Lilak 2020 from Berlin came to the Opel Zoo. Veterinarian has a lot to do “The zookeepers have a firm eye on the animal, it is healthy and the young animal lives,” said Kauffels. The gender of the offspring has not yet revealed itself under the ultrasound head. The staff build up trust in Kariba so that they react to speech during the birth – “But in the end the animal has to do it itself”. The birth should take place in the elephant house that it could go quickly, but also take 24 hours. The new year has started for the Opel Zoo with tension. After the outbreak of the mouth and claw disease in Brandenburg, the banning was still rigorous because of the dangers, the director said. African swine plague, blue -tongue disease and bird flu also ensured that the veterinarian had their hands full. More on the theme of the topic of elephants, the focus in 2025 may be the focus, but in the not too distant future the zoo could get another large game attraction. He has been planning to build a plant for tank horns for years, and the groundbreaking ceremony could now take place this year. Before the first tank horns move in the history of the Kronberger Zoo, a construction period of one and a half to two years can be expected. In the number of visitors, the zoo achieved an increase of more than six percent in 2023 in 2023. 592,000 people came, only once it was even more. The zoo also does not record a recession, said director Kauffels. He announced another, very small news: In the zoo shop, there have been freshly printed Opel Zoo Brief brands with various motifs since Wednesday-including a tankshorn.
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