Hagenbeck
Energy costs burden Tierpark: animals and visitors hardly
Reef sharks swim in the large shark atoll in the tropical aquarium in Hagenbeck Zoo. photo
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
In some places, animal parks and zoos have already closed certain areas because of the high energy costs. This is not yet planned in Hamburg. Savings are made elsewhere.
Although the increased energy costs are a burden for the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, this has not yet had any impact on the animals’ everyday lives or what is on offer for visitors. “Currently, neither visitor nor animal areas are affected by closures. We can still maintain our ongoing operations,” said Managing Director Dirk Albrecht of the German Press Agency in Hamburg. Nevertheless, the company will and must react to the rising costs and also use all possible savings potential.
The ticket prices have therefore recently been increased. “The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a privately financed company that, unlike all other zoos in Germany, does not receive any municipal grants. Against the background that the zoo lacks admission fees of almost ten million euros due to the corona to cover the monthly costs of one million euros , it became necessary to adjust the admission prices in the zoo and tropical aquarium in Hagenbeck,” said Albrecht.
The monthly energy costs alone are therefore in the six-digit range. “For the coming year we – like other companies – expect a cost increase of at least 20 to 30 percent.”
The zoo is already making savings by converting many areas at Hagenbeck in terms of energy. “We are already working with heat exchangers, geothermal energy and solar energy in the tropical aquarium and in the polar sea. And the majority of our lighting has already been converted to modern, energy-saving LEDs.”
In the Hagenbeck Zoo, the areas that require a particularly large amount of heat, cold or light, or that require complex water treatment, need a lot of energy, as Albrecht said. “These include in particular the polar sea, the elephant enclosure, the orangutan house and the tropical aquarium. The tropically warm habitat of these areas requires an environment heated to around 28 degrees Celsius, corals and reptiles need intensive lighting, and The water technology in our large water tanks in the polar sea and tropical aquarium requires energy to move and process the water masses.” In addition, groundwater at a temperature of eleven degrees Celsius is pumped for the polar sea, which then cools the animal tanks via a heat exchanger.
According to the animal park, it saves even more because it can use filtered and mechanically-biologically treated waste water for its service water. “Our ponds are fed with service water and the plants are watered with this water. This results in savings of around 236,000 cubic meters of drinking water per year.” In addition, electric vehicles are used on the site, and there is a solar system, with the energy from which the pumps for the geothermal energy of the polar sea are driven.
Tierpark Hagenbeck is the only large, family-owned private zoo in Germany. Carl Hagenbeck (1844-1913) opened it in May 1907 at its current location in Hamburg-Stellingen. At the time, the zoo was the first zoo in the world without a fence. Currently more than 1850 animals live there. According to the information, the daily costs for food, care, electricity, water and much more are around 41,000 euros.
Information about Hagenbeck Zoo
