News from the zoo: Chemnitz Przewalski stallions for the Sprakel semi-reserve
After an intensive period of preparation, two one-and-a-half-year-old Przewalski's horse stallions left the Chemnitz zoo yesterday. They travelled to Sprakel in the Emsland region. A so-called semi-reserve is located there.
There are several such large fenced-in areas in Germany where the respective herds are kept close to nature without additional feeding. Depending on the suitability of the animals, the "semi-wild" offspring can then be released into the wild in their original homeland, such as Mongolia or China. Wild horses were considered extinct in the wild at the end of the 1960s. Several projects are underway to reintroduce the animals. This requires genetically diverse horses that are also suitable in terms of their behaviour in order to create an intact and viable herd. Breeding is coordinated by the EEP (European Endangered Species Programme for Przewalski's Horses).
However, the Sprakel semi-reserve is used exclusively for grazing by stallions. The young animals grow up there, older stallions can then be integrated into mixed herds for breeding.
For the transport, both stallions had to be anaesthetised with an anaesthetic gun so that they could be loaded safely. Under anaesthetic, the animals were dewormed and vaccinated as prophylaxis. With the delivery of our two young stallions, Chemnitz Zoo is once again participating in this targeted species conservation project. In previous years, animals have already been made available for the reintegration of Przewalski's horses in Mongolia, where around 100 individuals are now galloping across the steppe again.