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About stubborn llamas and robber dens: a visit to the Blindham mountain animal park

2021-09-16T11:54:42.200Z


Since 2004 the mountain zoo has been attracting more and more people from all over Germany to Blindham. We took a look at the site and its innovations.


Since 2004 the mountain zoo has been attracting more and more people from all over Germany to Blindham.

We took a look at the site and its innovations.

Aying

- an insider tip? The Blindham Mountain Animal Park has long ceased to be. The car signs in the parking lot indicate visitors from all over Germany. And even today, although it keeps raining, the parking lot is well filled. “I would not have thought that so many would come,” says Josef Sedlmair. After all, the stricter corona rules have been in effect again since today, especially in the popular play halls, only those who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested are allowed. "The people are probably used to it", believes the zoo boss and pats a goat that cheekily sticks its head over the fence.

When exactly he got the idea for the zoo, he no longer knows exactly.

The large farm in Blindham has been in the family for many generations.

Josef Sedlmair also learned agriculture.

But at some point he wanted to do something that was “more fun than working fields on the tractor for hours”.

Initially, he wanted to create a large park with lots of animals, including domestic predators.

Now he's glad he left that with the predators.

"When you walk past a lynx enclosure and everything is not perfect, everyone immediately thinks 'ah, poor lynx is locked up there'." Even without the predators, it was not so easy.

“The authorities take a close look, everything has to fit right down to the smallest detail, from the minimum size of the enclosures to the nature of the floor,” explains Sedlmair.

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Relaxed boss: Josef Sedlmair, on the hill of the farm, where the cash register, play hall and gastronomy are also housed.

© Doris Richter

After several years of planning and nine months of hard work, the park opened in 2004. 25 hectares of meadows and forest with native wild animals from fallow deer to wild boar, as well as farm animals, some of which have become rare, from the brown mountain sheep to the Valais black-necked goat. A circular path leads through the park. Sedlmair is there every day. With a control view of fences, buildings, animals. “I notice every little hole in the fence.” Nonetheless, he has not lost the joy of the thing over the years. “You shouldn't see it as a job, rather as an activity that is fun,” he says. Otherwise it would be difficult. Sedlmair and his family have never gone on vacation. The park is open all year round, summer and winter, including public holidays. "But if you are used to not going on vacation, you don't miss it either",says Sedlmair and laughs.

At seven in the morning, work starts for him and the four employees outside. Let the animals out of the stables, feed them and see if all the animals are healthy. At nine o'clock the first visitors are at the cash desk. Hundreds of people come on good days. The mountain zoo is a popular destination, especially for families. Then it can happen that you don't see any more goats in the petting zoo for all the children. Trouble with the visitors? “Hardly,” says Sedlmair. Here and there something breaks. But animals annoy - hardly anyone dares to do that. “If a child pulls the goat by the ear, another child is immediately there to scold you.” Sedlmair himself is quite relaxed. He patiently explains to a mother why the horses shouldn't be fed - "they just get too fat". But he does not intervene eitherwhen a child sticks a handful of wild animal feed through the fence.

Llamas?

"Great animals and very easy to care for, never sick"

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The white llama makes some trouble.

© Doris Richter

There is always something to do during the day too. Sometimes the goats' hooves have to be cared for, sometimes the llamas have to be sheared, a gate repaired or a missed football from the fallow deer enclosure rescued there. Nevertheless, Josef Sedlmair always has an eye for beautiful things. For example for the pair of peacocks, which had offspring in mid-June, “for the first time”. Two brown, fluffy peacock chicks pound through the bird enclosure behind their mother. Despite the heavy hail in June, the mother peacock hatched her eggs outdoors until the end. A hundred meters further, the donkeys Mona and Monalisa curiously prick up their ears, "they are among the animals of the first hour, absolute visitor favorites". The pigs are just lazing around in the barn, not even the fresh, large puddles lure them outside.The lamas Suki and Imka, on the other hand, are on the lookout for the next visitors with delicacies. “Great animals and very easy to care for, never sick,” says Sedlmair. Only the third lama, simply called the white, is a problem case. “If you want to take it to the stable, it lies down and doesn't do anything anymore.” And when it comes to shearing it is also a problem. "That's why it has long fur down on its belly, we just couldn't get it."

A family approaches the white man cautiously.

The father holds out his hand and shrugs back.

"It'll spit on me in a minute," he says to his wife.

Sedlmair smiles.

"Llamas only spit at dogs, they don't like them." Otherwise, spitting is not a pleasant thing for llamas.

"They spit stomach contents that they choke up beforehand."

New play castle in the middle of the forest

In the middle of the park, the playground is now bustling.

There is a lively up and down on the colorful bouncy cushion embedded in the meadow. The many play equipment is another reason why children love to come here.

They let off steam on swings, seesaws, trampolines, carousels and other equipment.

The big playhouse - the 100 year old hay barn with lots of climbing frames - is very popular in rainy weather and for children's birthdays.

Sedlmair particularly likes the new play castle in the middle of the forest, which you can only enter by climbing.

Just finished.

Everything made of wood, with grid corridors in between to climb.

“The children like these houses that stimulate their imagination.” When he watches them play, he forgets how much money and work there is.

“Always a little something new” is Sedlmair's motto.

Big projects are not on the agenda for now.

Everything is fine as it is.

The main thing is that Corona does not force it to lock again.

You can find more news from the Munich district here.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-09-16

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