Who needs a ZOO

The role of zoological gardens

Breeding

We breed the rarest and most endangered animal species to make sure that they survive and our next generations will have a chance to see them in their natural environment.

Science

The zoo creates excellent conditions for conducting scientific research aimed at expanding knowledge about animals, thanks to which we will be able to protect them even more effectively.

Education

Visiting ZOO itself is an excellent lesson of nature. Our Education Dpt. also run organized workshops and classes, not only about animals, but also about their natural environment and ways to protect it. We promote pro-ecological attitudes.

Rehabilitation

Many zoos are also involved in helping the native species of fauna. At the Warsaw Zoo, there is a Bird Asylum, where we save birds that have suffered accidents, injuries and need professional care before they return to nature.

Recreation

In the beautiful surroundings of nature, every day, on all days of the year, you can spend time wisely and pleasantly, observing nature and expanding your knowledge about animals. The zoo is smart entertainment for people of a ages.

How is biowaste from the Warsaw ZOO is processed?

What causes trouble for others and is waste, we process it in an environmentally friendly and effective way into ecological "green energy"!

Bio-waste, i.e. animal faces, bedding and food leftovers, generated in Warsaw ZOO are processed into agricultural biogas aat one of the heat and power plants belonging to the Polish Biogas Group. Energy is then generated from the biogas.

Annually, Polska Grupa Biogazowa will process nearly 800 tons of waste from The Warsaw ZOological Garden, from which approximately 100 MWh will be produced, which will provide energy to appproxinately 42 households!

The cooperation of the Polish Biogas Group with the Warsaw ZOO, launched in October 2019, is the first such type of manaagement from the ZOO garden in our country.

The Warsaw Zoo, together with the Batu Secret Zoo (Indonesia), thanks to the support of the Foundation for the Development of the Warsaw Zoo PANDA, which allocated PLN 40,000 for this noble cause, implemented a unique project. The whole thing takes place in East Java, where a kind of field branch of the Warsaw Zoo was created, and more specifically a complex of several aviaries in which the yellow-tailed beak (Lophura erythrophtalma) is bred.

This is an unprecedented event in the history of the activity of the Warsaw Zoo, which, through ex situ breeding, is a strong accent in one of the leading roles of the zoological garden.

The yellow-tailed pheasant is an endemic species of pheasant from Sumatra, whose situation in the natural environment is seriously disturbed. Population numbers are declining and the pressure of civilization is increasing, which is why this species is listed as Vulnerable (VU) by the IUCN. Therefore, there is a great need to create stable breeding groups of these birds in zoos, as the genetic background of the natural population.

The Warsaw Zoo together with the Panda Foundation supports the project of protecting mountain gibbons in Vietnam!

The project began in June 2016 in the Kon Ka Kinh National Park and was developed through a collaboration between Stiftung Artenschutz and the Frankfurt Zoological Association (FZS), financially supported by EAZA member zoos. This is a continuation of a similar project for yellow-eared gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae) in the Nam Nung Reserve in southern Vietnam.

The aim of the project is to: assess the current distribution and abundance of the mountain gibbon (N. annamensis) species in the KKK park, create a program for monitoring the species, train forest rangers in recognizing primate species, raise local residents' awareness of species protection in the region: design posters and postcards with image of the gibbon, cooperation with schools located in the buffer zone of the park, production of a film on the protection of primates in the Kon Ka Kinh National Park.

Gibbońce (Nomascus sp.) - belong to the primates threatened with extinction, listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and covered by the CITES convention (Appendix I).

Our support: 2018 - 500 euros, 2019 - 500 euros, 2021 - 500 euros, 2022 - 500 euros.

The Warsaw Zoo, with the support of the PANDA Foundation, actively participates in helping hornbills in their natural environment. Everyone can help these beautiful birds survive. It is enough to buy one of the winged mascots in the shop of the Development Foundation of the Warsaw Zoological Garden "PANDA". Part of the proceeds from their sale goes to support the Hornbill Nest Adoption Program run by the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).

NCF is committed to protecting India's unique wildlife through education and community engagement. Since 2003, the foundation has been studying hornbills and monitoring their nests in the Pakke Tiger Reserve in East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh. Pakke is a haven for hornbills, 4 of 9 species live here: Great Hornbill, Wreathed Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill and Rufous-necked Hornbill. Hornbills are extremely vulnerable to hunting, and deforestation is causing habitat loss, which means a decline in population and disappearance of nesting sites.

Our support: 2019 - 300 euros, 2021 - 300 euros, 2022 - 250 euros.

Other projects we supported:

• protection of gorillas in Africa, where there has been a significant increase in poachers hunting these rare animals. The funds were used to strengthen patrols in places where illegal hunting is the most intense.

• we made a donation of AUD 3,000 to the Australian Association of Zoos (ZAA), which coordinated the rescue of animals injured in a fire.

The Warsaw Zoo takes part in the ecological project "Restitution of floodplain meadows in the Warsaw section of the Natura 2000 SPA in the Central Vistula Valley." Six areas were selected for the project: "Żerań", "Golędzinów", "ZOO", "Gocław", "Rodzynkowa", and the largest of them "Wilanów". We deal with a very important activity in these areas - mowing (only after the end of the breeding season of birds) almost 70 ha of the Vistula land. The project aims to reducing the occurrence of invasive species of foreign origin: Canadian and late goldenrod and ash maple.

Protecting Endangered Species of Animals

Zoos primarily focus on exhibiting and breeding species that are most threatened with extinction and those that have no chance of survival without our help. we - people destroy the natural environment, which makes it lack space for many animals, and we are responsible for saving those who are threatened with extinction. Zoos around the world cooperate with each other and conduct various types of breeding programs aimed at rebuilding populations and reintroduction, i.e. releasing species that have become extinct in nature back into the wild.

The European pond turtle is a protected and very rare species entered in the IUCN Red List with the EN threat category (very high risk species threatened with extinction). It was placed under strict legal protection in 1935. Protection of the European pond turtle in the Mazowieckie Voivodship and its reintroduction is one of the projects in which the Warsaw Zoo conducts.

The Rothschild's mynah is an endemic species to the island of Bali, discovered in 1911. It was considered extinct in the wild. Many zoological gardens all over the world, including the Warsaw Zoo, participate in the breeding program to save this endangered species.

The European Bison is one of the animals saved by zoos. In 1919, the last individual living in the wild was killed. There are only 54 captive bison left in the world. In order to save the species, in 1923 the Society for the Protection of European Bison was established - works related to the restitution of this species and its return to nature began. Today, there are over 4.5 thousand bison in the world, 2/3 of them in the wild. The biggest refuge of the European bison is the Białowieża Forest.

The Maned Wolf is one of eight species1) that Brazilian scientists intend to clone in the near future in order to prevent the extinction of the species. The Warsaw Zoo has many years of tradition in breeding this species.

Once numerous in the steppes of Central Asia, Przewalski's Horse was declared extinct in the wild in the late 1960s. Thanks to breeding in zoos, it was possible to restore its population. A project to restore this species to its natural habitat is currently underway. The Warsaw Zoo also has a huge share in it. In 2012, two individuals selected to participate in the project left our garden. This is a mare with a foal that have joined a new herd that will give birth to a population living in the wild.

The Indian rhino is another species on the IUCN Red List of endangered animals. The main reasons are habitat loss and poaching for the horn. Although no research has confirmed its healing properties, faith in its miraculous power is still great. In our ZOO you can admire the female Shikari and the male Kuba, who have had offspring three times already.

It is estimated that 100 years ago in the Baltic Sea lived 100 thousand of Grey Seals. Now there are 20,000 of them in the entire Baltic Sea. and their numbers are declining. It is even more gratifying that nearly 100 representatives of this species have been born in the Warsaw Zoo over the years. In 2011, three seals born here - Cekin, Certa and Cyklon - took part in a project run by the Marine Station of the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Gdańsk entitled "Restitution of the gray tit in the South Baltic" and were released into the wild, supplementing the Baltic population of this species. Thanks to the transmitters placed on their backs, it was possible to track the fate of the animals for several months (with the change of coat, the transmitter falls off).

Science

Zoos initiate their own research programs or make their areas and animals available for research conducted by various universities, scientific institutions and nature conservation organizations. We study the behavior of animals whose observations in nature are either impossible (extinct in the wild) or very difficult (timid animals). Specialist research is also conduct in the field of anatomy, genetic, parasitology and many others. A great experience in breeding wild animal species and veterinary knowledge is the world's unique potential of zoos in the fight for the natural environment and saving endangered species.

The fifth pillar – Rehabilitation

In the Warsaw Zoo, apart from the four other pillars that zoos support their activities (protection of endangered species, education, science, recreation), there is also a fifth pillar. This additional activity is the rehabilitation of exceptional wild animals, i.e.:

Birds’ Asylum

About 7,000 wild domestic birds have been brought to the asylum, ranging from sparrows to great eagles and swans. Nearly 50% of the birds treated here recover to nature. Unfortunately, some birds have to stay in the zoo for the rest of their lives because they wouldn't manage to survive in the wild.

CITES Center

The CITES Center is a place of refuge and illegally captured and trafficked species of exotic amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. These are evidence of the existence of the Washington Convention, intercepted at the border by customs, escapees from co-ownership found in Warsaw and animals abandoned by their owners.

Education

Every year, zoos around the world are visited by 750 million people, only in Europe there are as many as 300 million visitors, including 3.5 million in Poland. This is a great opportunity to enrich your natural knowledge, increase ecological awareness and realize that the fate of our planet and its inhabitants is in our hands.

The zoo organizes educational activities for preschoolers, pupils and students.

An educational path for the blind and visually impaired has been created in the Warsaw Zoo. 11 bronze sculptures have been placed by the enclosures of some animals. Each sculpture has a description plate in Braille.

Each animal has its own board describing a species, several times a year educational events are organized dedicated to endangered species and the protection of their natural environment.

Recreation

Zoos are an extremely attractive place to spend free time and relax. Animals’ exhibitions with wonderful vegetation gives a unique opportunity to escape from civilization and the city noise.

There is no need to travel far away, here in our zoo we can meet wild and exotic animals.

An undoubted attraction are numerous educational picnics and family festivities, where everyone can find something interesting.

For several years, the Warsaw Zoo has been taking part in the international "Dreamnight" campaign. Every year, several hundred zoos (including almost all European, but also American and Australian) host children from oncology hospital wards, providing them with great fun and contact with wildlife.