Zurich Zoo Zurich's big cats take possession of their catwalk
A snow leopard explores the new "Panthera" big cat enclosure at Zurich Zoo. The enclosure is open to the public from Friday.
Image: Keystone
Lions, snow leopards and Amur tigers can be found in the new enclosure.
Image: Keystone
A snow leopard explores the new "Panthera" big cat enclosure at Zurich Zoo. The enclosure is open to the public from Friday.
Image: Keystone
Lions, snow leopards and Amur tigers can be found in the new enclosure.
Image: Keystone
Zurich Zoo unveiled its new big cat enclosure on Thursday: it is called "Panthera" and is designed to significantly improve the way the cats are kept. Panthera" also includes a 17-metre-long catwalk that leads over the heads of visitors.
27.03.2025, 13:22
27.03.2025, 14:52
SDA
If you want to see Amur tigers, lions and snow leopards at Zurich Zoo, you will have to go in search of them in future. This is because the species no longer have a fixed location, but live according to a rotation principle.
The animals swap areas every few days so that they are constantly confronted with new stimuli. "The smell of the predecessor is everywhere," zoo director Severin Dressen is quoted as saying in a press release. This challenge is good for the animals.
The individual enclosures are connected via an overgrown catwalk at a height of 4.5 meters, which leads over the heads of the visitors. The catwalk is also a good vantage point for the tigers, lions and leopards. Cats like to have everything in view - real tigers are no different from house tigers.
Zoo wants to feed animals from its own stock
The cats are fed via a feeding ropeway, among other things, which floats through the facility at 40 km/h. If the cat is too slow, it goes off. If the cat is too slow, it goes home empty-handed. The caretakers decide when the meat ropeway will pass so that the cats cannot get used to it. Fasting will therefore be part of everyday life.
Whenever possible, the zoo wants to feed whole animals from its own stock. Death is also part of life at the zoo, he notes. The new facility will be open from Friday.
The new cat enclosure means there is no more room for the wolves. Zurich Zoo therefore gave up keeping wolves in the summer of 2023. Khentii, Sonam and Samija, the three Mongolian wolves, have been living at Biel Zoo ever since.
