From December 16 to December 18, Mr. Douglas Richardson, the mentor of Nikolaev zoo, who is a zoological consultant of the EAZA, made a working visit to our zoo. The purpose of his three-day visit was annual inspection of our zoo to get an idea of how successfully we are implementing the comments of the EAZA screening, the elimination of the remarks will allow us to obtain the status of a full member of this prestigious international organization again.
We discussed the existing problems of the zoo regarding the management of animal collection, the situation with the reconstruction of existing buildings and structures, as well as possible options for the construction of new, modern animal enclosures for the species that have a need in these enclosures first of all.
During the meeting with the zoo team Mr. Richardson made a presentation of the new enclosures he developed for polar bears. His proposed concept is now used in many zoos around the world.
It should be noted that Mr. Richardson praised what was done over the past year in terms of addressing the comments of the EAZA accreditation screening, and in general in terms of the development of the zoo.
Based on the results of the working visit, an action plan for the coming year was outlined.