Belgrade Zoo

An example of the cages that are used to house the animals A team from IWMG visited the Belgrade zoo at the end of March 2001 to carry out an initial assessment of this visitor attraction. Scott Crossett returned at the beginning of April 2001 for meetings with the zoo management and to carry out further inspections of the zoo. The zoo, which is situated on the grounds of the Kalemegdan Fortress, was opened in July 1936. It covers an area of 6.5 hectares and houses over 200 species of animal. In comparison to other zoos around the world this is a particularly small area of land for housing such animals.

Barren enclosure that the tigers inhabit In this small sized zoo the enclosures and cages are designed to provide the greatest exposure of the animals to the public. The majority of enclosures have concrete floors and there is little or no attempt to provide any environmental enrichment within the enclosures. The zoo houses a variety of species, most of which are in cages that have too little space, including: hippopotamuses; reptiles, alligators, horses, wild cats: tiger, lions, lynxes etc.

Wolves were constantly pacing up and down in their enclosures. The zoo houses a large number of wolves that are kept in small cages with concrete floors. The wolves exhibit the stereotypical pacing behaviour that is seen in enclosed animals in distress. Some of the wolves also exhibited great anxiety and fear of the public. A number of the foxes appeared to be particularly stressed by their captivity and were seen to be constantly running around their cages yelping.

The extent of the polar bears baldness can be observed The zoo houses a number of bears and polar bears. These animals are kept in similar barren enclosures and cages. There was no vegetation in the enclosures and the bathing water for the polar bears appeared dirty and contained rotten foodstuff. Some of the polar bears were very bald on their hind legs, which could be a sign that they have been inactive for long periods of time. Feeding by the public is prohibited but it is obvious that this is not enforced. Many of the food and water troughs are contaminated with rotting food and faeces.

A lynx feeding on the main diet for the zoos carnivorous animals There is a lack of information available to visitors for educational purposes and only a few of the enclosures having signs declaring the type of species inside. The zoo is in desperate need of assistance to improve the living conditions of the animals. There has been a significant amount of concern over the impact of the recent NATO bombing of Belgrade, on the welfare of the animals. It is likely that the noise from the warplanes and exploding bombs increased the levels of stress suffered by the animals. However, there are other issues that need to be addressed. These include: hygiene; the size of the enclosures and the lack of facilities within the enclosures to keep the animals amused.