Leningrad Zoopark

Last visit 2015

Leningradsky Zoo
Aleksandrovskij Park
D 1
Saint Petersburg
197198
Russia

http://zootierliste.de/zoosmap.php?showzoo=10000970


Phone nr  (812) 232-8260


Open minimum 10am-5pm


Entrance

• Adult 600 Rubel
• Child 200 Rubel

Though this Zoo has a good children zoo and kids can ride on a pony, the animal cages will look verry small for European and American cildren


History

On November 11th 1864 the dutch Julius Gebgardta Device asked the city for grounds so that he could open a zoo as all the other imperial capitals had through Europa, this was granted. Though his wife Sophia was known as the dutch beauty and normally its said that she was the founder. The opening was a success, even lions and tigers where in the collection. But soon hard times came, many animals died becourse of a cold winter and no heating system worked for real, as well as there where no bridges over the river Neva - so no visitors came. In 1866 the zoo then had a dutch dairy made of milk of imported dutch cows, to get a small income that way. The winter of 1866 the zoo opened a branch on the fields of mars. 1871 Julius Gebgardta Device died and Sophia remarried the 30 years younger Ernest Antoniovich. They first errected an open air scene for classical music, a venue that got quite popular. In 1889 the zoo got its own elektricity turbine, one of the first places in the city - most of the city was lid by Kerosene. Beside animals the zoo did from 1879 endemic people, something typical for those days. Since Ernest was a man of science a lot of the animals bred, like the hippos, spotted and red kangaroo. In 1890 becourse of the 25th anniversarry the zoo got among others 2 Asian lephants and a polar bear as present. Since 1877 the zoo had the now extinct carolina parakeet. Ernest had to withdraw as a director in 1897 befor he could buil a stone house for carnivores like the one in Berlin. So at that time all houses where made out of timber. The next 12 years nothing happend and the first cortcases where made between baron PP von Winkler and the city. He had least the grounds for 15000 silverrubels a year, but forgot to pay the rent. He also did forget to feed the animals and pay the sallery for the staff. Since may 17th 1910 the owner then was Semen Nikodimovich Novikov, but the animals where at such a bad state, that the vetrenaries of Moscow Zoo removed the animals. So the zoo had to beginn more or less from scratch again. In 1911 a contract with Carl Hagenbeck in Hamburg was signed and over the years he delivered animals as 2 Asian elephants and a black rhino. The open air scene got popular as well and some animal trainig shows where shown. the 50th anniversarry was the occoassion of opening the new entrance building, almost a copy of the old entrance of modern Hamburg zoo (Germany). 1917 the revolution came and 1918 by state decree the zoo as every other entertainment place in the country was  officially made as a part of the state. Leader of the zoo was then the national council of natural scientists, there work was stoped in 1924 by a flood. Becourse of the scientific work the zoos polar bears the next decade got 5 cubs. The zoos area though was to small, so the zoo got a new area outside of the city, the removement was stopped though by World War II. The Germans came closer to the city, so on 30th July 1941 80 animals were removed to the zoo of Kazan, the rest of the larger anmals had to be shot for saftey reasons. On September 8th 1941 the first 3 bombs fell, several animals died like the favorit Betty an Asian elephant. The winter of 1941 Elektricity and water surply was stoped. Then Hitler decided to starve the people of the city, by cutting all foodlines. 2 million people died those 3 years, where each citizen got less than 300 calories of food daily (a young man eats at lest 2000 calories daily or 2 people had to share a Big Mac). Still in this situation the citizens loved their zoo and it did not close, though most people did not have the energy to visit it. After the war the population slightly grew again, 1951 the zoo got an Asian elephant from Prague zoo, the first after 10 years. 1954 a pair arrived in 1954, theire first calf was born 9th October 1956 (she only lived to 1959).