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Elistvere Loomapark
 
     
  History of Elistvere Loomapark (1997 - 2016)  
  1997 How it all began?
The idea to found the Elistvere Animal Park came around in 1996. In order to popularize Vooremaa and its surroundings, ways for developing traditionally less spread tourism were sought and for a longer period of time the once beautiful manor with its parks had been looking for a renewal. A German tourism consultant Tilman Bieber, touring in the rural municipality of Tabivere in spring, proposed to build a wildlife park in Elistvere. Such parks were at the time already relatively popular in Europe but there were none in Estonia yet.

Mayor of the rural municipality of Tabivere, Kalev Raudsepp, started a working group of specialists, including Ene lives, chief specialist at the Environmental Department of Jõgeva County Government; Kaupo llmet, chairman of Jõgeva Metsaselts (Jõgeva Forest Society); Velio Gertz, a construction specialist from Elistvere; and Külli Toots, teacher of tourism at Tabivere High School. In cooperation with German advisors T. Bieber and a lengthy business plan was designed by the end of the year. The Animal Park project was approved by the Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Estonia, Villu Reiljan, and by Mati Kaal, the director of the Tallinn Zoo.

The Elistvere Animal Park was founded with an aim to:
• create a landscape introducing local (or once local) animal and bird species and parts of the manor park, emphasizing the variety of nature;
• display animals and birds in as natural conditions as possible;
• create various opportunities for spending shorter or longer periods of recreational time in the Animal Park by building respective recreational facilities;
• start a nature education system via various facilities and activities targeted at children as well as adults;
• create a sanctuary for animals that have been injured or that have lost their mother at a young age in order to heal, nurture and keep animals to eventually let them back into nature, provided they are able to survive, and if not, keep them as addition to the Animal Park.

The once famous Elistvere Manor had turned into a bushy dump with a dilapidated grain dryer, grass flour mill, sawmill, oil depot, civil defence shelter, sawmill pad with a shaft for sawdust, ruins of the house of the manor manager, and foundation of a mansion that used to have one of the most beautiful interior decors in the Baltic States.

Construction activities began in the spring of 1997 with large scale maintenance work:
• clearing the bush;
• disposing the trash;
• filling and levelling the civil defence shelter and sawmill shaft;
• clearing the park alleys from the bush;
• opening the pathway to Lake Elistvere;
• constructing the first enclosures for animals.

The Animal Park, initially called the Elistvere Nature Park, was opened on 27 August 1997. The first inhabitants - roe deer from the Tallinn Zoo - were supposed to arrive by that time. Unfortunately only a couple of days before the transport the bevy were devoured by a pack of feral dogs in the capital city. Hence not a single animal was displayed at the opening. Olev Nigul, at the time the general director of Tarmeko, who had supported the construction work with providing poles, gave the Animal Park two leather turtles as consolation present at the opening ceremony.

The first animals - two calves of the European bison from the Tallinn Zoo, named Villu and Vilja, arrived at the Elistvere the Animal Park on 21 September 1997. Villu Reiljan, Kalev Raudsepp, Ene lives, and Ingrid Gertz became godparents to the bison. The first animal keeper and zoo manager was Kersti Gertz. The same year brought addition to the Animal Park with fallow deer and foxes.

1998
          1998 turned out to be a pivotal year for the park. As nature park is a specific term in the context of the Nature Conservation Act, so in order to avoid confusion, the Elistvere Nature Park became the Elistvere Animal Park.

The Elistvere Animal Park was opened to the public on 16 April 1998. Ticket sale began with the opening price of 1 kroon in cooperation with the Vooremaa Nature Centre.

The park attracted tourists and people interested in learning about nature, exhibiting local wild animals or animals that used to live in the region some time ago. Elistvere became a place where wild animal babies were rescued if they had lost their parents or were injured.

The same year brought the realization that the park will not be able to survive solely on ticket sales and was in need for support in order to exist. Newly established the Vooremaa Nature Centre Foundation was able to find support only for a small part of projects. Bankruptcy was around the corner which is why Estonian Forest Society stepped in. Estonian Forest Society was supported by the governments of several rural municipalities - Tabi-vere, Saare, and Jõgeva; as well as by the State Forest Management Centre and private donators. It can be said that the people wanted to keep the Animal Park alive.

The highlight of 1998 was bear Karoliina who was brought from Kabala Forest District. She was soon accompanied by a puppy Rolli; two lynxes from the Tallinn Zoo - Ene and Mait; a foundling from Ida-Virumaa - moose Poku; and a nine year old wild boar Masa who had served as a training tool for hound dogs at Pala.

1999
The year 1999 brought several advancements to the Animal Park. Additions to the exposition in the shape of new neighbours, only a couple of weeks old, to wild boar Maša were brought from the Tallinn Zoo. The Environmental Inspectorate added on moose calves that had lost their mother at Ida-Virumaa.

A gift from the Jõgeva Forest Management (Jõgeva Metsamajand) - a small wooden hut became a centre of selling tickets and memorabilia.

On 4 October, the day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, bear Karoliina was able to move into its new enclosure, compliant with all regulations.

The summer of 1999 brought open air performances. Ago-Endrik Kerge directed Puss in Boots, an open air story for families, the dramatization of the famous fairy tale by Charles Perrault. The main character, Basilio the Cat was played by Helen Hansberg from Tartu Children’s’ Theatre. Side roles were partly played by the actors of the Tabivere Amateur Theatre.

Puss in Boots attracted almost 7000 people with its 27 performances in the summer of 1999. The shows took place from 29 May to 22 August and the adventures of Puss in Boots continued at the Elistvere Animal Park also in the next spring with another five performances. The ticket to the show, containing admission to the Animal Park as well, was 50 krooni, five of which went to the Animal Park.

On 17 September 1999 the Elistvere Animal Park is nominated the best tourist attraction of South Estonia at Travel Trade Fair Tourest.

In cooperation with Elistvere Puhkeküla (Elistvere Recreational Village) the Animal Park was transformed into a Christmas wonderland, a tradition lasting several years.

2000
In 2000 the rodent research centre was opened in the community house in cooperation with Estonian Naturalists’ Society. The leader of the initiative of the research centre was Andrei Miljutin, PhD, from the University of Tartu. The centre focused on research and display of rodents. Animals were brought from the Tallinn Zoo, Interest Centre TELO, and from Andrei Miljutin’s private collection.

In spring kittens were born to mother lynx Ene.

In 2000 the small pond dating back to the manor was cleaned and about 20 Japanese decorative common carps, or koi, settled into the pond. Keeping the koi was not very successful because the colourful fish attracted seagulls. Even though the fish were protected with net, they diminished significantly in number and after winter the attempt was not repeated. Later German mirror carp were settled in the pond.

In order to celebrate the three year anniversary of the Animal Park, Estonian Forest Society held a two day figure sawing contest in Elistvere. Many of the competing works, including the winner of the contest, Mother-in-Law of Elistvere still decorate the Animal Park.

Cafe Karoliina was built in the neighbourhood of the Animal Park on the foundation of an old silo tower.

On 13 November 2000 project manager Kaupo llmet received the Rocking Horse Award on behalf of the Elistvere Animal Park at the White Hall of Toompea Castle. As one of the annual awards of UNICEF, the rocking horse was awarded for the first time. The decision for the award was made by the Estonian National Committee for UNICEF already on Children’s Day, 1 June; the official award ceremony was held in November. The award was presented by Siiri Oviir, the first vice president of the committee; Elle Kull, the president of the committee; and Toomas Palu, representative of UNICEF in Estonia. The first person to ride the rocking horse was Siiri Sisask, the singer.

The Animal Park was nominated for the award by the Department of Education and Culture of the Jõgeva County Government. The Elistvere Animal Park was chosen from 40 nominees for developing children’s nature education. Nomination was supported by several events organized for children at the Elistvere Animal Park, for example Children’s Day and Valentine’s Day, exhibitions, Christmas wonderland, performances of Puss in Boots. In addition to that the Animal Park has been offering shelter and care to animal babies who have lost their parents.

Kaupo Ilmet, project manager of the Elistvere Animal Park, promised the Vooremaa Newspaper that they will put the rocking horse to the exhibition hall and let children rock. This is how the Animal Park added one more animal to the collection.

2001
In 2001 the Bird Way (in Estonian Linnutee also means the Milky Way) along with the observation tower at the lake were built, supported by the State Forest Management Centre and the Environmental Investment Centre. The learning trail introduces several natural habitats of animal and bird species.

Lake Elistvere (183.3 ha) has low and swampy shores with quaking bogs. A piece of proper shore and sandy bottom can be found only at the northeastern side of the lake at the mouth of the Amme River. The basin of the lake continues in the southeast as Sikusoo Marsh and in the northwest as Harvaku Marsh. Due to a strong flow of water through the lake oxygen deprivation has not become a problem at winter.

Lake Elistvere is rich in water plants as well as fish - the bream, the roach, and the perch are predominant but also the pike, the tench, the crucian carp, the common rudd, the ide, the ruffe, the European eel, and others can be spotted.

They say Lake Elistvere is home to a water spirit who has been seen to wash handkerchiefs in the lake. As soon as the village folk, looking at the mythical creature, approached, the spirit would disappear.

Alongside the bird way information boards introduce the plants in the vicinity. Elistvere is one of the very few habitats of the enchanter's-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana), belonging to the II protected category of species under protection. The enchanter's-nightshade of the evening primrose family (Onagraceae) prefers damp environment and can be found only at two places in Estonia - in the Elistvere Manor Park and on the island of Abruka.

2002
Every year Estonian Civil Society recognizes the biggest contributors to the civil society, nominating an NGO, a public institution, a company, a citizen of mission, and a deed that have helped to significantly develop our civil society. In 2001, Kaupo Ilmet, the leader of the Elistvere Animal Park was recognized as Citizen of Mission.

In June a picnic area with a large wooden swing was built in the Animal Park, allowing groups of people visiting the park an opportunity to spend time in the nature.

On 27 August the 5th Anniversary of the Animal Park was celebrated. The same year marked the beginning of cooperation with Luua Forestry School in organizing two day learning camps in nature, with four to five camps taking place each consecutive year.

In 2002 61,000 people visited the Animal Park for which the park was nominated as the most visited tourist destination in Estonia along with Kuremäe Convent.

2003
In 2003 the Elistvere Animal Park was given its first reindeer as a present. Redu had previously been living in Olustvere and participating in the local Christmas Wonderland event. The owner of the reindeer, Eesti Meelelahutuse Agentuur (Estonian Show Business Agency) decided to give Redu to the Animal Park after his companion, a female reindeer had escaped from captivity.

In May more newcomers joined the Animal Park - Marten Triinu and five pheasants that had previously belonged to a private collection. The summer brought a flood of storks and by fall the Animal Park was a proud owner of twelve storks.

The rodent exposition was complemented with a night room where visitors are able to follow the rodent night life in a dark room with a red light illuminating their activities.

2004
In 2004 several animal babies brought a lot of joy to the park. Bison Vilja gave birth to her first calf Maria and the family of wild boars had their first piglets. The first squirrels found their way to the Animal Park from a private collection in Tallinn.

The Elistvere Animal Park received state funding through the budget of the State Nature Protection Centre (Riiklik Looduskaitsekeskus), resulting in efficient cooperation with the administration of Vooremaa Landscape Protection Area.

In order to simplify the life of animal keepers an ATV was bought along with a garden tractor, thanks to the help of the Government of Tabivere Rural Municipality. In addition to that a partial fence surrounding the territory of the park was built.

2005
In 2005 the bear enclosure was widened in cooperation with the administration of Vooremaa Landscape Protection Area.

The life in the park went a lot easier with the help of a truck Mazda 2500, a present from Orajõe Forest District. No more worries with carrying animal feed.

Two newcomers found their way to the Animal Park in 2005 - home grown racoon dog Krässu from Türi and home grown fox Reks who soon became the favourite of the visitors because of having learned how to wiggle its tale like a dog. Almost at the same time also two roe deer fawns were greeted in the park - a five to six days old Piiksu from Kabala, Järvamaa and almost as old Noole from Võrumaa.

In November Maša, the first wild boar of the park, died at the age of 17.

2006
2006 was a fruitful year in terms of construction. Maintenance building was built with the help of investments from the state funding; a new enclosure for the bison was built as well as a learning trail the Beaver Trail.

Students of Maarja Middle School directed and performed a play about the inhabitants of the Animal Park.

Two reindeers were bought from Peedasjärvi, Finland - a seven year old Maura and a three year old Redu.

2007
The beginning of 2007 brought another newcomer to the Elistvere Animal Park, a male wood grouse Jossu, already notorious all over the country for having eaten last year’s shoot tips of an entire privately owned spruce plantation in Pala, eventually practically destroying it. The crazy bird was caught using a net, ringed, and deported far into the forest. The bird however had developed certain sympathy for the unusual food (a wood grouse is supposed to eat pine needles rather than spruce shoots) as well as for the proximity of people, so after three days it was already back. The grouse was caught again, first brought to Elistvere and after a month deported to an animal shelter at Nigula.

In spring a two day old moose calf Tõnu found its way to the Animal Park.

The rodent collection of the Animal Park was moved to the newly built maintenance building and with the help of funding by the Environmental Investment Centre the ruins of the house of the manor manager were conserved that had long been decaying due to weather. The picnic area was complemented with children’s playground and additional boardwalks were built on the territory of the park as well as on the nature trails.

In August the Animal Park celebrated its 10 year anniversary.

In fall the cooperation with Tartu Tammelinn began, as a result of which an acorn gathering contest was announced as part of the activities during the Tammelinna Days festival. Several animals in Elistvere were very happy to receive bags of acorns as food supply.

2008
The funding of the Elistvere Animal Park from the state budget through the State Nature Protection Centre (Riiklik Looduskaitsekeskus) had come to an end and the Animal Park was transferred from the Estonian Forest Society to the State Forest Management Centre on 1 July 2008.

In August the Nature Management Department of the State Forest Management Centre acquired the former grocery store building in Elistvere and a project was set up to construct the central building of the Elistvere Animal Park and Nature Centre. At the same time another project was set up - Artes Terrae OÜ designed a project to plan the future development of the park.

In October the staff of The Animal Park visited the Ähtäri Animal Park in Finland to exchange experience on how to manage an animal park.

At the end of the year construction work began on building a new enclosure for the wild boars.

2009
In April 2009 the new enclosure for the wild boars was ready and four little piglets were born in their new home. In addition to the four a foundling was adopted by the sow either because of her good heart or due to lack of counting skills.

In June a pair of newcomers arrived at the Animal Park - fox cubs Juuli and Maanli from the Alaveski Animal Park.

At the end of August a family day of the employees of the Nature Management Department of the State Forest Management Centre took place, led by Vladislav Koržets with various dishes of fish prepared and a lot of different activities enjoyed.

In September the acorn gathering contests continued in cooperation with Tartu Tammelinn. In addition to Tammelinn also Tähtvere (city district) organized a similar contest. Again the animals in Elistvere were happy to receive bags of acorns.

At the same time construction work began on the new central building of the Animal Park. The first part of construction work on the park also began, covering the vicinity of the new central building as well as the northern part of the park up to the bear enclosure.

By the end of the year a new moose enclosure was ready along with a separating fence in the bison enclosure and maintenance buildings for feeding the animals.

2010
As applicable to an animal park, the year began with the birth of several animal babies. At the beginning of April wild boar Possa gave birth to six piglets and in May Bison Vilja had her calf Leopold.

On 1 May the Animal Park hosted Let’s Do It! for the first time and several necessary work got done - an old separating fence of the bison enclosure taken down, wood chopped into a woodpile and the park raked.

By the end of May enclosures for foxes, raccoon dogs and squirrels were ready as part of the first stage of construction work in the park. All of these animals were able to move in to their new homes.

After St John’s day, during the white nights of the summer the Animal Park was open until 1 AM for the first time. The so-called Summer Night Animal Park gave people interested in animals an extraordinary opportunity to see what the animals were doing at night.

In July the bicycle group of Luua by EÕM (Estonian Student Work Group) contributed to cleaning the lakeside part of the alley leading up to the picnic area from underbrush.

9 July brought sadness to Elistvere as a twelve year old wild boar Peeter passed away in the middle of a hot summer. The same month saw joy as well as fallow deer Täpi was born to the animal family.

The first week of August brought storm winds to the Animal Park. Several enclosures were damaged and many trees in the park broken. Luckily the sawyers of the Nature Protection Department of the State Forest Management Centre came to help and greater storm damage was soon cleaned up.

By the second part of the summer the first stage of construction work in the park was completed - the paths along with greenery in the surroundings of the rodent house and behind the new building were done.

The most important event of the year was the completion of the central building of the Animal Park and Nature Centre. The opening ceremony took place on the anniversary of the Animal Park, 27 August, when the park was celebrating 13 years of age.

By the end of the year the second stage of construction work began in the park, starting the work on the paths in the vicinity of the lynx enclosure and the moose enclosure. At the beginning of winter those paths were in poor condition due to ongoing construction work but thanks to the understanding visitors the Animal Park survived this period of time without much trouble.

2011
During the cold winter of 2011 bear Karoliina went into one of her longest hibernations across several years.

On Valentine's Day, 14 February visitors of the Animal Park were able to join Mati Kaal, the director of the Tallinn Zoo in discussion and tour in the Animal Park.

Another highlight of the year was a visit of President of the Republic, Toomas-Hendrik lives and the First Lady Evelin lives during their tour in Jõgevamaa in April. The fast visit but nevertheless a very positive emotion was caught on a photograph of the presidential couple together with the staff of the Animal Park.

Traditional Let’s Do It! initiative on 7 May gave the park a fresh and tidy look after cleaning up after winter. Part of the work was dismantling the old observation tower next to the lake that had become dangerous to visitors. A project was written to reconstruct the boardwalk and the observation tower which are now in the process of awaiting their renewal.

The year 2011 may be deemed the squirrel year as both of the squirrel moms at Elistvere had their long awaited litters of squirrel babies. By midsummer the visitors were able to enjoy the rumble of eight little squirrels and the squirrel enclosure was the magnet of the Animal Park.

From 14 to 19 June the Animal Park was open second year in a row until 1 AM at night. In comparison to the previous year that had hosted only 182 visitors during these nights, the Summer Night Animal Park now attracted 468 visitors, clearly experiencing a growth in popularity.

By the end of June the second stage of construction work in the park was completed and the paths between the lynx enclosure and the moose enclosure were done. The same period of time brought addition to the animal family in a shape of a baby moose that had been abandoned by her mom and had spent the first weeks of her life in a farm in Ida-Virumaa. The baby moose was named Tuule and by the time fall came was able to move from her baby enclosure to the big moose enclosure.

On 27 July a new truck, Nissan NP 300, was acquired that made the work of the staff at the Animal Park a lot easier and fun.

As a result of construction work in July and August a new animal feed storage was completed, simplifying the storage process. Thanks to the great help of EÕM about a hectare of park territory was cleaned of underbrush and the edges of gravel roads weeded.

2 August brought a surprise to everyone as the two year old wild boar produced three piglets. As Possa had had dead piglets the previous spring then this meant the more joy from the little striped piglets to everyone.

19 September everyone’s favourite fox Reks passed away to better hunting grounds.

Despite the Christmas storm that damaged a little the lynx enclosure and the moose enclosure, the end of the year was peaceful and happy.

2012
On Valentine’se Day in February the Animal Park welcomed veterinarian and animal friend Aleksander Semjonov for a round of discussion to share his experience about working in Africa. Aleksander had been studying and working in many countries, curing animals in national parks and zoos.

In February and March the rodents were lucky to have their ceilings and walls painted and were themselves eventually able to move into new aquariums in May.

In April wild boar Possa gave birth to piglets but unfortunately they died. Luckily another wild boar mom produced three healthy striped piglets on 15 May allowing the visitors of the Animal Park follow the doings of little piglets this year as well.

At the end of May roe deer fawns were born and at the end of June fallow deer fawns.

On 2 May the Animal Park was once again able to greet a newcomer - a young fox abandoned by his mom, named Riki. The fox had trouble with his paws but thanks to the love and care of his keepers, cod-liver oil and vitamins he was soon cured and grew up to be a wonderful fox. He has become a worthy successor of Reks who sadly passed away the year before.

In addition to the fox, a baby ferret whose mom had been run over by a car found his home in the Animal Park this year, as well as a marten from Hiiumaa.

During the summer nights from 4 to 8 July again more than 400 animal friends visited the Animal Park to see what the animals are up to at night.

A big help once again was EÕM from 16 July to 3 August, tidying up the overgrown paths of the Animal Park and helping with different kind of maintenance work.

The dove with an injured wing who had been sharing his living grounds with a rabbit was lucky to find some unexpected company straight out of nowhere. The company landed in Ivi’s (staff of the Animal Park) yard and was quite decided to stay there. The dove population of the Animal Park was soon expanded by three cute little chicks.

27 August invited everyone to visit the Animal Park for free as a tradition to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the park. Visitors had a wonderful opportunity to have a taste of the everyday cuisine of the inhabitants of the Animal Park - carrots, turnips, cauliflower.

By fall an outdoor classroom with interactive learning tools was set up in the close vicinity of the Animal Park. The classroom was built with the help of funding by the European Regional Development Fund and offers a wonderful opportunity also for the visitors of the Animal Park to learn and add on to their knowledge on nature.

A night before 26 October wet snow that had come down broke a tree that damaged the lynx enclosure and set four animals free. In the morning the staff of the Animal Park managed to return one of the getaways back to the enclosure with the help of a drug injection - three others still enjoying their freedom. With the help of a trap box one of them found its way back home. Returning the third getaway somewhat resembled a real hunt. The lynx, watching cars pass by on the Luua-Palamuse road, was brought back home safe, with a small help and the resulting nap of the drug injection. The last one of the animals was never caught and news of people spotting him stopped coming in by the end of the year.

The end of the year also saw the restoration of the observation tower next to Lake Elistvere. Visits to the tower however will need to wait for a while as the boardwalks leading to the tower are also in a need of renewal.

2013
As the wild boars had decided not to have any piglets this spring, the first newcomer of the year was a roe deer fawn already famous as a television star. The fawn found its way to the Animal Park with the help of reporter Heiki Vainer. The first days in a new home that the fawn spent hospitalised in the maintenance building of the Animal Park were full of surprises. For example the fawn would much more likely eat everything else but what a young roe deer was supposed to eat. Initially named Heino, the fawn was eventually renamed Elli as he turned out to be a she after all.

In May the roe deer enclosure welcomed three fawns of its own. A young fox cub was brought to the Animal Park from the village of Pataste as the only survivor of the litter, the rest of which had been devoured by basset hounds. The cub was named Taki. The only animal keeper who managed to earn Taki’s trust was Villem, everyone else needed to take good care not to meet its needle sharp teeth.

Summer Night Animal Park attracted almost 300 visitors during the white nights.

By the anniversary of the Animal Park signs were made making finding specific animals a lot easier. The signs were installed next to the back end of the bear enclosure and to the information square next to the lynx enclosure. Around 600 guests attended the celebration and were traditionally served carrots, turnips and cabbage.

Thanks to the initiative of the organizers of the Tammelinna Days seven years ago and to the care of other animal friends the acorn collecting campaign managed to gather around four tons of acorns for the animals of Elistvere.

In October a little lynx kitten was brought to the Animal Park from the village of Leevaku, Põlvamaa. The kitten had managed to attract resentment of the villagers with looking for food from the yards and barns nearby.

An unexpectedly late bison calf was born at the end of October.

The end of the year was sad because the six year old moose Tõnu was found dead on a December morning. According to the results of autopsy the moose had suffocated from nuts and raisins offered to him by one of the visitors.

2014
The first event of the year after a peaceful winter was the collective maintenance work of the Nature Management Department of the State Forest Management Centre on 22 April. As a result of the effort, the farrow deer were built a shelter, the park was tidied up, and the boardwalk construction was continued. The boardwalk reached the observation tower at the lake by the end of the year allowing the visitors after many years to walk from the park up to the lake again.

As the wild boars had decided the previous year not to have any kids, this year proved to be different and two striped piglets, beautiful and full of joy, were born at the beginning of May.

Another foundling found a home in the Animal Park, this time a week old moose calf. He was nurtured back to life by the animal keepers and soon started to bring joy to the visitors, filling up the empty space left by Tõnu late last year.

In April the fox family had the first fox cubs of the Animal Park. Unfortunately their mother died and the little cubs had to spend their kindergarten under the watchful eye of the animal keepers.

In May a different kind of a pair of animals joined the lines of the Animal Park - designed by wood sculptor Ott Olesk, the Animal Park now has a bench with two bears always ready to pose for a photo.

The highlight of June was the arrival of the two year old female lynx Gella from the Tallinn Zoo. The two male lynxes were happy for their new companion and the newcomer enjoyed the wonderland of climbing trees her new home had to offer in contrast to her concrete cell in Tallinn. The lynx family is now well set for offspring.

The second half of June brought memorable moments as the Song and Dance Festival Fire Jounery stopped by at the Elistvere Animal Park. The company, wet from rain, was greeted by Kalevipoeg and his good advisor Hedgehog.

The five white summer nights at the Animal Park attracted a record number of visitors this year, almost 2000 people.

In August the wild boars had to move away from the eyes of the visitors for an unknown period of time due to African swine fever that had spread to Estonia.

This year’s last proud mother was Bison Pauliine who gave birth to her calf in October.

2015
Life went on as usual at the Animal Park in the year 2015. Three fawns were born in our fallow deer herd. No other animals had any offspring. A raccoon dog injured by a car found a home at the Animal Park and four orphaned baby pine martens were brought in from Kudina early in June, two of whom survived. We were sad to have to do away with our herd of wild boars due to the risk of the African swine fever virus.

Corporate volunteer days seem to be a new trend: in the end of September, employees of the Jõgeva branch of Swedbank came to visit us. The picnic area and a large park area were raked clean of leaves prior to the snowy season.

We were also glad to receive students of landscape construction from Luua Forestry School. They had a couple of classes at our park and nearly all our shrubs were rejuvenated.

In September, the first-year schoolchildren of Jõgeva County had their first science and nature class at Elistvere Animal Park - this was done the fifth year in a row. Slightly over 300 students and teachers came to see our animals over two days.

Our already traditional Summer Night had 1225 visitors and 1044 animal lovers celebrated our anniversary with us. We have put up a permanent outdoor exhibition about the history of Elistvere Animal Park on the wall of our ancillary building. The number of visitors for 2015 was 58972 - the largest in the last 8 years.

The end of the year brought sorrow, though. Our male reindeer Redu died in the first half of December and Villu the bison who was among the first residents of Elistvere died at an advanced age the night before Christmas Eve. However, both animals lived to the average age of their species. We had Villu's head stuffed and now it watches over us at the nature centre.

2016
Deer have delighted us with their offspring throughout the years and this year as well -our fallow deer had two fawns and our roe deer three. Brown hares also had offspring but that is only known to us, as even the adults seldom show them to visitors. They are extremely shy but their pen is fortunately large enough to hide in.

As the boar pens stood sadly abandoned, we had thought about who could live there. Their design and structure are not suitable for many species. It was the pond in the pen that decided the matter, and so we brought in seven Pekin ducks in the summer of 2016. They keep the grass under control and hopefully will also lay eggs. They are quite chatty, too. When you stop to talk to them, you receive a good long quacking in reply.

The year also became memorable because Elistvere received two new animals from Tallinn Zoo. Our bison herd had only consisted of cows since Villu the bull had gone to the heavenly pastures. Our staff visited Tallinn Zoo in February and saw several young bison bulls run around among the herd. We asked whether it would be possible to get one of them to Elistvere, and so our guys drove the Nissan to Tallinn in November to pick up the bison. The zoo staff doubted at first that a bison could be transported in such a vehicle, basically a passenger car... But everything went smoothly and Gamlet arrived at Elistvere in the afternoon of 23 November. We were apprehensive of how we would get him off the vehicle and into the pen but the bull ran straight into the pen as soon as the hatch opened. The first thing he did was to piss - the fine city gentleman would not piss in the car the whole way. We let the bisons watch each other through the fence for a day and then we let them in together. We named the bull Hamlet instead which is a bit easier to say.

Our lynx population had problems as well. The level of consanguinity was high and the animals began to age. By the beginning of the year, we had 2 lynxes in the pen. But after a lot of organizing, a new male lynx called Lars was brought from Tallinn Zoo at the end of the year, a few days before Christmas (20 December). He is a really handsome, stately animal. Now all there is to do is to wait for offspring.

After a great deal of fuss and long discussions, Elistvere received Piccolo the young raccoon dog who had lived as a family pet. Fortunately, he got on well with our raccoon dog from the start.

6 cafes set up stalls for our guests on the traditional summer night at the Animal Park. The menu was varied and the prices friendly. We also served our animals a bit more festive meals so they wouldn’t sulk in envy. Karoliina got a lax cake. The bear simply loved it and the visitors loved to watch her eat it. The Animal Park had nearly 700 visitors on the Cafe Day.

As we don’t have many animals just now who would eat acorns in large amounts, we discontinued the acorn collection campaign. Schools and preschools that were used to participating each fall collected other fruits and grew pumpkins and sunflowers.

The tradition of volunteer days also continued. Bank employees came to lend us a hand on several occasions. Roe deer pens were maintained, all grass mowed in the elk pen and compost boxes built.

 

Source: Info panels in the zoo (2018)

 
   
WZD - Worldwide Zoo Database
2009 - 2019
Zdroje a autoři: WZD, oficiální stránky ZOO, oficiální tiskové a jiné materiály ZOO (není-li uvedeno jinak); Datum poslední aktualizace: 24. 12. 2019
Sources and authors: WZD, official websites of ZOO, official printed and other matters of ZOO (if it is not stated otherwise); Date of last actualization:24. 12. 2019
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