Tábor Zoo () is a zoological garden in the south-east of the town of

Tábor Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populated town in the region. The town was founded by the Hussites in 1420. The historic town centre is well pres ...

, in the

South Bohemian Region The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''Regions of the Czech Republic, kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, founded in May 2015. At 10 hectares, it is the largest zoo in the South Bohemian Region. The zoo focuses on the protection of endangered species. The managing director of Tábor Zoo is

Evžen Korec Evžen Korec (born 16 September 1956) is a Czech scientist, entrepreneur and businessman. He is the owner and CEO of real estate development company EKOSPOL and Tábor Zoo. He is the co-author of 11 patents and more than 20 research papers publishe ...

, owner and director of residential development company EKOSPOL, one of the zoo's sponsors.

History

A previous organization called Zoologická zahrada Tábor-Větrovy (Zoological Garden Tábor-Větrovy) was founded in July 2011, but was shut down amid financial problems in spring 2015. The zoo continued as Zoologická zahrada Tábor a. s. (Zoological Garden Tábor Inc.) but as a new company, owned by Evžen Korec. The zoo reopened on 30 June 2015. The zoo had 25,000 visitors in the first month after it reopened, and more than 70,000 visitors in 2016. The number of visitors increased to 111,000 in 2023. Korec later wrote a book about his take-over of Tábor Zoo, ''Jak jsem zachránil ZOO v Táboře'' (How I Rescued Tábor Zoo), co-written with Filip Susanka and released in December 2016.

Endangered animal species

Tábor Zoo is focused on the protection of endangered species. The zoo's collection currently consists of over 500 animals from 80 species, of which about one quarter are from species classified according to the

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

Convention as endangered, including the

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to Northeast China, the Russian Far East, and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korea, Korean Peninsula, but currently ...

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

Brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

Arctic wolf The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf, polar wolf, and the Arctic grey wolf, is a Subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Me ...

Great grey owl The great grey owl (''Strix nebulosa'') (also great gray owl in American English) is a true owl, and is the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, and it is the only species in the genus ''Str ...

Snowy owl The snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus''), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mo ...

Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl, a type of bird that resides in much of Eurasia. It is often just called the eagle-owl in Europe and Asia. It is one of the largest species of owl. Females can grow to a total le ...

, Fossa and White cape lion.

Wisent (European Bison) reintroduction

In 2016, the zoo began breeding European bison, as part of a Europe-wide effort to reintroduce the species to the wild. Between February and May 2016, a new pen was built with an area of about 0.5 hectares. The zoo decided to breed the genetically most valuable line, known as the Lowland line, which is considered more suitable for reintroduction. They acquired two cows from

Nuremberg Zoo Nuremberg Zoo () is a zoo located in the Nuremberg Reichswald ("imperial forest"), southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. With an area of , approximately 300 animal species are kept by the zoo. History In the Middle Ages The tradition of zoos ...

(Norisa and Norma), and two cows (Usjana and Uselina) from

Usedom Island Nature Park The Usedom Island Nature Park () comprises the German part of the island of Usedom in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. In addition to the island itself, the park covers the waterbody between th ...

in Germany. All four cows were transported to the zoo in May 2016. The breeding bull, Poczekaj, arrived at the zoo in November 2016 from

Niepołomice Niepołomice (pronounced ) is a town in southern Poland, seat of Gmina Niepołomice in the Wieliczka County in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is situated on the Vistula River, on the verge of the large virgin Niepołomice Forest. There is ...

in Poland.

Scientific research

Tábor Zoo hosts a scientific research group focused predominantly on the genetic study of three mammal species:

Cane Corso The Cane Corso is an Italian dog breed, breed of mastiff. It is usually kept as a companion dog or guard dog; it may also be used to flock guardian, protect livestock. In the past it was used for hunting large Game (hunting), game, and also to c ...

dogs,

European bison The European bison (: bison) (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bi ...

and

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison''; : ''bison''), commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo (not to be confused with Bubalina, true buffalo), is a species of bison that is endemic species, endemic (or native) to North America. ...

. The group has published several research articles, with results describing the inheritance of various traits in dogs, such as the inheritance of coat colour in Cane Corso dogs. Their present research is focused on the genetic background of longevity in the three species, and they have described the relationship between coat colour and longevity in Cane Corso dogs.

Gallery

Zoo Tábor-Větrovy, tygr 01.jpg, Tigers Zoo Tábor-Větrovy, restaurace 05.jpg, Service building Zoo Tábor-Větrovy, ara u vchodu 01.jpg, Ara ararauna RysZooVetrovy.jpg, Lynx in Zoo Tábor MedvedZooVetrovy.jpg, Bear in Zoo Tábor

References

External links

* {{authority control Zoos in the Czech Republic Tábor Zoos established in 2015 2015 establishments in the Czech Republic 21st-century architecture in the Czech Republic