Johannes Gerhardus Hendrikus Burgers (31 January 1870 – 12 June 1943) was in 1913 the founder of ''Burgers' Dierenpark'', nowadays called

Royal Burgers' Zoo Royal Burgers' Zoo ( nl, Koninklijke Burgers' Zoo) is a zoo in Arnhem, Netherlands, and is one of the biggest zoos in the country. Arnhem is a city that lies within the Veluwe, a nature park in the east of the Netherlands. The zoo is popular with ...

. He was the owner and director of it until 1939. His youngest daughter Lucie Burgers was his successor, with her husband Reinier van Hooff. Their son, Antoon van Hooff (1937-2004), further developed the zoo.

Biography

Johan Burgers was born in

's-Heerenberg s-Heerenberg is a city on the Dutch-German border, in the Province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It is located about 5 km north of the German Emmerich, and about south of Doetinchem. It received city rights in 1379. 's-Heerenberg is the locat ...

. After graduating

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

, Burgers became an agricultural expert working in Eastern Europe which provided him a decent salary. He returned to his home town to marry, and started a butchery. In 1895, Burgers bought a

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

. In the garden, he kept a collection of

pheasants Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasi ...

and dogs which earned him many prizes, and lead to the purchase of more animals. To accommodate the growing collection, he bought a piece of land nearby and called it ''Buitenlust''. In 1908, he visited the

Tierpark Hagenbeck The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by Ca ...

Carl Hagenbeck Carl Hagenbeck (10 June 1844 – 14 April 1913) was a Germans, German merchant of wild animals who supplied many European zoos, as well as P. T. Barnum. He created the modern zoo with animal enclosures without bars that were closer to their natu ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

which really impressed him. In 1913, Burgers opened the site for the public, and added other animals like foxes, wolves and flamingos. Burgers Zoo was the first privately owned public zoo in the Netherlands, because

Natura Artis Magistra Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for "Nature is the teacher of the arts"), commonly known just as Artis (), is a zoo and botanical garden in the centre of Amsterdam. It is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and fifth oldest zoo in the world. In addit ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

was originally only for members. In 1916, Burgers wanted to add lions and bears which was resisted by the local government. In 1918, the city of

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

was enthusiastic about his plans, and the zoo was reopened next to the

Open Air Museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

. In 1932, his daughter Johanna married Johan van Glabbeek, and as a wedding present he gave them

Dierenpark Tilburg The Tilburgs Dierenpark was a zoo at the Bredaseweg in Tilburg, Netherlands. History The park opened its doors in 1932 as a wedding present from Johan Burgers (the founder of Royal Burgers' Zoo) to his daughter and her husband from Tilburg. In 1946 ...

. In 1939, Burgers retired and appointed his daughter Lucie as his successor. In the 1940s, Burgers contracted cancer. Burgers died in

on 12 June 1943.

Family

Burgers was married to Maria Erwig and they had three children together.

Jan van Hooff Johan Antoon Reinier Alex Maria van Hooff (born 15 May 1936) is a Dutch biologist best known for his research involving primates. He was professor of comparative physiology at Utrecht University from 1980 to 2001. Career Van Hooff was born in ...

, biologist and professor of

comparative physiology Comparative physiology is a List of academic disciplines, subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environ ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

is one of his grandchildren.

References

1870 births 1943 deaths People from Montferland Dutch business executives Zoo owners {{Netherlands-bio-stub