Prague Zoo rated one of the best in the world! / Prazska zologicka zahrada je jednou z nejlepsich na svete!

Only about 7 years ago (2002) Prague underwent one of the most horrendous floods in the city’s history. Besides the historical downtown completely disappearing under water, the Prague’s zoo was flooded as well. The zoo staff managed to evacuate more than 1,000 animals, 800 birds, 150 reptiles and 100 mammals prior to the upcoming flood (making it the largest and the fastest evacuation of animals in the history of zoological gardens). Unfortunately, 14 mammals and 130 birds died during the floods, including the male seal Gastron, who swam more than 186 miles down the Vltava river to Germany, was resuced days later but died on the way back home thanks to exhaustion, stress and infection. Among the animals that had to be put down was 35-year-old Kadir (see image bellow), an elephant popular with zoo-goers, who became trapped by rising waters and could not be rescued.

The complete damage of the zoo was about $5.2 million dollars. About 40% of the damage covered the insurance company, some financial help came from private sources (schools, institutions, companies, families). The director of the zoo, Peter Fejk, had to fight for his money very hard however, as there was quite a lot of criticism against him: media attacked him for putting some animals down; some people did not see the point of breeding exotic animals in the center of Europe. But the zoo managed and managed so well that the prestigious Forbes Traveler Magazine currently rates the Prague Zoological gardens as the 15th best zoo in the world! Congratulations! For more information about this exciting news click here.

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CZ: V roce 2002 pohltila Prahu jedna z nejvetsich zaplav v hisorii  mesta. Po 10 dnech neuprosneho lijaku se zatopilo nejen  Stare mesto (viz foto), ale take samotna zologicka zahrada. Pracovnikum ZOO se povedlo evakuovat 1,000 mensich zvirat, 800 ptaku a 100 savcu, z cehoz se stala ta nejvetsi zachrana operace v hisorii zologickych zahrad. Bohouzel vsem zviratkum se ale nepostestilo – 14 savcu a 130 ptaku behem zaplavy zemrelo a to vcetne statecneho tulene Gastrona, ktery uplaval pres 300 kilometru z Vltavy do Nemecka. Gastrona se podarilo zachranarum chytnout, ale vycerpanim a stresem  zemrel na ceste domu. Nektera zvirata musela byt take utracena, jako byl napriklad popularni 36-ti lety slon Kadir, kteremu destova ‘kaluze’ sahala vylozene az po usi a nebylo ho z ni jak zachranit (viz foto).

Celkova skoda cinila  neco kolem 5,2 milionu dolaru. Kolem 40% bylo uhrazeno pojistovnou a dalsi penize prisly od privatnich zdroju jako byly skoly, ruzne podniky a ruzne ceske rodiny. Reditel zologicke zahrady Petr Fejk se ale o tyto penize musel nekdy pekne ‘prat’. Mnoho lidi ho kritizovalo za utratu zvirat, ktera se podle jinych zdroju mohla zachranit. Dalsi zase stali na svem a tvrdili, ze chovani exotickych zvirat ve stredni Evrope je naprosto nesmyslne. Ale konec dobry, vsechno dobre a zologicka zahrada se z toho vylizala; vylizala se z toho tak dobre, ze ji prestizni casopis Forbes Traveler Magazine ji zaradil jako 15. nejlepsi zoo na svete!!! Vic si o teto skvele novince muzete precist zde (kliknete zde).

Source: http://www.gettheloop.com/readingroom/praguefloods.html