2016:

Per July 2016 I started my new role as director in Zoo Hoyerswerda. To be honest, I was warned for Hoyerswerda. Racists would demonstrate every week, such stories. Ehhhhhh. That all has to do with events that happened in....... 1991. Yes, 1991. And not everybody knows that history is ....history. But the job was supposed to be for 1.5 years, so why not try and get my first experience in such a role.

The truth was so different. No demonstrations, no visible racists, a quiet city with a lot of nature around. Moreover I have seen wolves, cranes, and even Europe's most northern Mantis religiosa colony. I found my new love as well.

I am starting to love Hoyerswerda, having lots of ideas for the Zoo. But cannot do too much, I am supposed to leave. The Malawi aquarium I find a bit boring though. Not bad, but can be better. Me personally I turn the whole tank step by step into an Amazon aquarium. Stars are, from 2017 on, a pair of captive bred White-blotched river stingrays. Other stars are 1.2 Plumed basilisks, that I can let run over the water surface, during guided tours. Unique? Yes, unique. The aquarium has its challenges. Rays swim the plants out of the substrate, they however hardly eat any fish. The lizards dive into the water to catch Cardinal tetras, 200 gone in a week. We solved all these problems, now in 2019 having an aquarium with the rays, the basilisks, small fish and plants. Unique? Yes again unique!

In Amsterdam Zoo I arranged that at least every lizard species became UV-B light. That resulted in so many species to breed for the first time. One of them was the frilled lizard. In Hoyerswerda I did not have to think long before getting some baby frilled lizards from Artis in Amsterdam. They strive well in our terrarium now, meanwhile adults. And by the way, way more species get UV-B light in Hoyerswerda as well now. One of them is the White-lipped tree frog. UV-B and better food and off they went, breeding. Between 2017 and 2019 Zoo Hoyerswerda has given more than 700 of them to others Zoos!!!

2017:

There is news, my predecessor, all respect, is not returning to Hoyerswerda after a maternal leave. This was good news for me. That made more people happy, if I am allowed to say.

In May we finished the walk through exhibit for our Bennett wallaby's. A great success but I made also this enclosure unique. What makes it really special is that soon after Europes tamest Emu Hilde is brought to Hoyerswerda. She is hand raised and hence so unique and friendly.

For our porcupines I design an exhibit with a feeding platform. Visitors can grab a piece of food and feed it to these animals. One can look into all holes. A great enclosure.

Also ready, the new exhibit for Maras and Rheas. We start breeding again with the Maras, as with other species. About 20 species are bred this year. Amongst them Cranes, Boat-billed herons, Prevosts squirrels, penguins and many tree frogs. Keepers as well as visitors love this, but most of all the parental animals. Breeding is the best enrichment for their lives.

Happy I am to find a conservation partner in Zoo Hoyerswerda. The Nature conservation station in Neschwitz, 25 km away from us, is doing great work and gets supported by us, financially and with lectures, guided tours and by helping amphibians crossing the street. In both 2017 and 2018 they get about 1900 Euro from us.

For the Zoo animal of the Year we spend € 500 and become bronze sponsor. Several Kakadu project in situ are supported. From this year on, we will continue to be bronze sponsor.

For the Zoo assosiation I had the idea of building several hibernation places for amphibians. They did so. In our meanwhile proper Zoo these species can find a 'proper bunch of branches' and more to safely hide. There is more and more noise in spring around our pond, and in autumn 2018 even a first Grass snake is seen. It works.

2018:

Early in the year the new aviary for the snowy owls is opened. It is big and looks natural. It has some smart features. It can be divided in two easily. And under a roof, kind of a car port, we can hang a net. This way, we can keep the birds safe for avian influenza in their own enclosure!

I ordered no less than 25.000 flower bulbs in the Netherlands. The Zoo association is planting them on a saturday morning. Around easter time 2019, the zoo looked so colorfull. All botanical species, so they will flower year after year.

The camels and lamas get a new stable, and the ground surrounding it. Well planned, works fine. We support a project for wild camels in Mongolia, almost all money is funded by me, earned by selling Amorphophallus bulbs. Meanwhile I fell in love with camels. Few moments make a zoo director so happy when you hug a huge camel. Never thought I would write something like that.

We breed again about 20 species. Most special event is the breeding of cuban crocodiles. We only allow 5 eggs to hatch, since their is no need for more. Of course this get loads of media attention. The offspring goes to a crocodile zoo in England and a reptile zoo in the Netherlands.

A new male Little Owls makes this species producing offspring and the first one, this year, is reïntroduced to the wild in the Harz area. I am glad to have found this project, getting animals back to the wild is a great wish for me. Next year, 4 offspring go to a project in Brandenburg.

As I planned, the team changed the tropical house into a giant walk through enclosure for free roaming sloths. A large hanging path, nesting boxes, feeding places, prevention of possible accidents, interpretation and a net over the open enclosure with Cuban crocodiles. Ready on time when in september sloth Carlo arrives in Hoyerswerda. He immidiately is a star. Three free roaming tropical bird species make the scene complete. With two of them, I can tell the story that Zoo Hoyerswerda bred two bird species (the seven-colored tanager and the Red vented bulbul) for the first time in the world. In the seventies that was, but still.

A first armadillo arrives, Günther, and a first chamaeleon.

2019:

A marvelous year, the zoo has its 60th anniversary.

Early in the year we finsih an enclosure for Ursons, the North American porcupine. Monty and Mandy are cute animals, shaking their hinds when they walk. The enclosure is the best one I know for this species. They are well visible, the enclosure looking naturally and big enough. Ursons seem to fear hights, and 35% of skeletons in Museums have broken bones. Evolution is not ready yet with this species. I plan to add Skunks here, which will be a challenge that I want to face. We need to make sure the ursons don't eat the meat for the skunks. Guess we can arrange that.

Our most important animals is a pair of Galapagos giant tortoises. Wild caught, same subspecies. How lucky my pre-pre-pre-predecessor was in getting them. Their enclosure is renovated this year. New air-system, clean air, no moult, better light, better food and outside a mud pond. More improvements will follow, like a deeper pond and mud inside as well. We give it all to get these two to breed.

People donate in all different ways for a leopard enclosure. Building starts somewhere in September after a lot of planning.

Most exciting new arrival is sloth Carla, which soon feels well with here supposed future partner Carlo. They are a marvelous pair, visitors can even book a meet and greet with them, where they an easily feed sloths out or their hands.

Another arrival is Armadillo Gwendolyn, and we immidiately start the management to get her to breed with our Günther.

Again Little owls are bred and donated for a reïntroduction project, this time 4 go to Brandenburg, the project in Nuthe Nieplitz. Also Neschwitz, the Humboldt penguins (via Sphenisco) and the Zoo animal of the year (Gibbon) are supported again. Great.

I cannot count how often the Zoo and I were in the media the past years with great news. Absolute highlight however was an half an hour live interview for "MDR um 4", which went very well and was a superb advertisement for the zoo. Visitor number go up again, this year by about 10%. People spend more as well in our shop and restaurant.

2020:

Very important, the new enclosure for the North Chinese Leopards will be ready. And the pair, San and Baobao, is allowed to breed. I have seen pictures of their natural habitat and with the boulders I selected personally, we managed to create a little piece of that habitat in that enclosure. What I had in mind is now there. Very satisfied.

Besides that, we finished the renovation of the penguin enclosure. We had to do something to make water changes way more easy. Volume of the pond went down to 30.000 liters and with just a few easy handlings, a keeper can make a water change. The pond has nevertheless a new filter system (sand filter, uv, ozone, and the possibility to chlorinate). The land part is much more hygienic, and the airflow in the nesting boxes is increased. Waste water does not end up in the pond anymore. Penguins can only leave the pond at the front side, so are dry when the reach their nests after a long walk. A system going 100 m down in the earth is cooling or heating the water. Shade is provided by a few huge sails. Cannot do much more I guess.

Unique in the world, my idea of a Insect lounge. An Insect hotel so big, that a relax lounger is fitting in to it. Brave guests can have a rest between hundreds of solitary bees and wasps. We managed to get this funded with 10.000 Euro. Hopefully peoples attention for the insect crisis is attracted.

When I see ratites (flightless birds) in a Zoo, I never understood why nobody places a statue of a ,bird-dino' next to them, and explains that we still have dinosaurs on this planet: birds. So that is exactly what I ordered for 2020: a statue of a Dromiceiominus (the Emu-a-like) is placed in the enclosure with emu Hilde. With the correct amount of understable interpretation.

2021 - after

In 2020 we managed to buy ab over 1 ha piece of land between the Zoo and a main road. The buildings on the property will be our new food center, the land the new savannah. This made me completely change the masterplan. It will be marvelous. Think about White rhinos, tapirs, red panda and Diana monkeys. The lions will return to Hoyerswerda, there is enough place. And, and, and. No I don't write all of my ideas here.

:-)

Zoo Hoyerswerda is one to be followed.