Farm animal case provides interesting facts
Zoo participates in the protection and preservation of rare livestock breeds
A comprehensive collection of materials has recently been made available at Chemnitz Zoo, which was developed as part of a conservation project by the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ) and in collaboration with the Arche Warder e. V. landscape animal park and the Association of German-speaking Zoo Educators (VZP). With the VdZ farm animal case, zoo visitors - especially children and young people - can be educated in a playful way about the diversity of native farm animal breeds, the difference between wild and farm animals or the connection between consumer behaviour and their own carbon footprint. The VdZ farm animal case is already being used in 50 zoos and is also regularly used at Chemnitz Zoo, because in addition to species conservation, education is also an important task of zoological institutions.
Background:
Many German domestic and farm animal breeds are now threatened with extinction as they no longer meet the demands of high-performance farming. Some breeds produce more meat or milk than others or lay more eggs per year. The less productive breeds are no longer needed.
For this reason, many zoological facilities have rethought the composition of their pet stock in recent years. Here, mainly breeds from Germany are shown that are threatened with extinction and represent an old cultural asset.
Chemnitz Zoo has specialised in Saxon cultural assets, including the Erzgebirge goat. This breed has been kept since 2018 and there have been regular offspring ever since. With this old livestock breed, the zoo took part in the conservation project of the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ), which aims to strengthen the contribution of zoos to the preservation of endangered livestock breeds. The project was implemented in cooperation with VdZ member Arche Warder e. V., the world's largest centre for farm animal breeds. The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) under the auspices of the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
However, Chemnitz Zoo has also been involved in the conservation of endangered livestock breeds outside of the VdZ project for some time, such as the two chicken breeds Sachsenhuhn and Zwerg-Dresdner, the Saxon coloured pigeons and the Saxon ducks.
Opening hours of the zoo and game reserve in October:
daily 9 am to 5 pm, last admission 4 pm