Le Figaro Lyon
“The crocodiles are gone, let’s not talk about them anymore
. ”
The environmentalist executive tries the children's nursery rhyme to spread the news.
The return of Sunday walks at the Tête d'Or zoo under the spring sun will not see that of the reptiles.
In the 100-hectare Lyon park, their kiosk has remained empty for two years and a return to Agadir, Morocco.
However, onlookers continue to look for them.
As they might look for other wild animals in the coming years.
The town hall is working on a revision of the master plan for the zoo dating from 1999. With a first brick laid at the next municipal council, on March 21, which will see the vote on a framework deliberation on the animal condition.
The text includes 60 actions relating to pets in the city, liminal animals (squirrels, rats, pigeons, mosquitoes, etc.), biodiversity but also wild animals in captivity of which the municipality has certain species at Tête d' But then.
The opportunity for Gautier Chapuis, deputy in charge in particular of biodiversity and animal welfare, to recall
“the guideline taken by the city”
.
“We do not want to close the zoo but say that it is necessary to make it enter into a transition”
.
Transition focused on research, protection of biodiversity and awareness of its collapse.
The desired rapprochement of fauna and flora is already at work with a strengthening of the botanical park.
Goodbye pink flamingos, hello tapir
“There are many more connections in the aisles, work on plants and animal well-being as in the immersive tour of the
Asian Forest
,”
specifies the elected official in Le
Figaro.
The objective is to be at the forefront of what can be done best in terms of the condition of captive animals.
Vegetation, for example, serves as a hiding place to allow animals moments of respite.
For example, we are going to install wooden panels to help them hide
.
The municipality plans
“fine work”
, species by species, to determine which ones will be preserved.
This will not be the case for pink flamingos.
The practice of jointing, which consists of mutilation on the wings to prevent flight, was considered too cruel.
The specimens currently at the zoo will end their lives there.
A geriatric plan has been put in place to support them, as was the case with the last lion that died at Tête d'Or in 2021. As for other wild animals in captivity, they cannot be reintroduced into the wild.
Some may move to more suitable structures where they exist.
Conversely, a second tapir recently arrived.
“A zoo for endangered species”
The Amur panther will benefit from doubling the surface area of its enclosure.
Insufficient for the Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) association, opposed to animal parks, which plans to demonstrate in front of city hall on March 21.
“These are wild animals that live on territories of several tens of square kilometers
,” chokes Amandine Sanvisens, one of its co-founders
.
We ask that the mayor of Lyon
(Grégory Doucet, Editor's note)
sets a clear course as promised during the campaign beyond a few measures.
It is not a strategy to improve the conditions of animals in captivity with public money.
The municipality wishes to reorient its park towards the protection of endangered species.
This is also the original vocation of the zoo.
“Absurd!”,
replies PAZ.
A third of the species present are not threatened
.
And to point out certain primates, which delight children.
“There are more and more animals in danger and the idea that we are pushing with the mayor is a zoo for endangered animals.
With wild but endemic fauna
,” defends Gautier Chapuis.
A
“fair balance”
to find to continue to raise awareness among the seven million annual visitors, in a metropolitan city of 1.5 million inhabitants.
For its part, PAZ calls for an end to animal captivity and invites us to reconsider
“our desires for exoticism”
for the benefit of local wildlife, which is also very present at Tête d'Or.