Wildparks All Over Germany and Europe

When I was in Germany a few weeks ago I got to visit Saarbrücken Wildpark, which confused me. In the middle of a forest were huge pens for native animals. No addmission charge, just come on in, enjoy the animals or the woods. I wondered how this place could survive if the animals weren't producing food.

"By the way, the animals are not supposed to be eaten!" says Michael Wagner, head of Saarbrucken's forestry department. All the Germans I mentioned this to were equally appalled at my assumption.

The animals are there neither to be rescued nor eaten, but just for people to enjoy. "The Wildpark is intended as a greenbelt recreation area for the citizens of Saarbrücken, especially for families with children," he says. They also have a geology-themed trail. Even though the center isn't set up specifically for animal welfare, they do sometimes take in a few orphans, Wagner says. And they are part of the important project to recover the wisent. Only one herd of the European bison was left in the Polish woods after World War II, but there are now several thousand because of an elaborately managed breeding exchange program across Europe.


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It's fantastic that Germans and other Europeans have recognized that native animals in their natural environment (or a close enough approximation) are just fun to see. I wish we had wildparks here. The wildparks are all over the place. ZooInfos lists 144 native wildlife parks in Germany; 29 in Austria and 16 in Switzerland.


The wildparks each have their own quirky history shaped by historical events and people who either wanted to hunt or preserve a species (or both). Many started as private hunting preserves of the wealthy, then after a war, revolution or gift, they fell to public hands.

France has parc animaler (animal parks), but it doesn't seem like there are as many (ZoosInfo lists only 15). This Safari Train one lets people see bison and ostrich on the range, then buy their meat.
 
I'm still a little confused by the new categories. There are zoos, tierparks (translation: zoo), wildparks and native wildlife parks. They have deer parks and vogelpark (birds). And then all kinds of specialty wildparks:
The Neanderthal Wildpark features wisent and two other animals that people have tried to breed back from extinction, the auloch (a primitive cattle breed) and the tarpan (a horse ancestor).

Wildparks like these show that people would love to go see native animals if given the chance.

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Paris Builds Contraceptive Communes for Pigeons

When I went to Paris recently I was surprised to see what looked like a beyond-huge pigeon house in a pocket park in Montmarte, not far from Sacre Couer. Did pigeons, detested throughout the world, find a warm welcome from Parisiennes? Were they like the Jerry Lewis of birds?
Well, not quite.
The pigeons like the giant communes, where they live comfortably in groups of up to 200. But it's a trap. They're designed so the pigeons don't poop on buildings. And every week or so someone from a pest control company comes in and shakes their eggs so they won't have baby pigeons.
They do allow some reproduction. A Bloomberg report seems to say they let one egg per nest hatch. Le Figaro seems to say that workers let the first brood of each pair (La première couvée de chaque couple) hatch, then shake all the rest. Either way, it amounts to a lot of pigeons not being born, but a good life for those who do hatch.
The League for the Protection of Birds [Oiseaux] (LPO) likes the plan. The Humane Society of the United States has been pushing contraceptive as the most sane, least cruel strategy for dealing with populations of animals that people find annoying.
The big catch? Those fancy houses cost a lot of money. Like 20,000 euros ($30,000) to build and another 5,000 euros ($7,500) to maintain. But just one experimental house up five years is supposed to have prevented the birth of 5,000 pigeons. Depending on how long the houses last, it amounts to something like 9 € ($13.50) per pigeon prevented.

Can't believe there's any real wildlife in Europe? Check out this animaltourism.com map and guide of cool places to see Europe's wild horses (koniks), bison (wisent), wild boars and other natural wonders.