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The customs official proceeds cautiously with the planning. A major project has already been rejected by the people.
Basel Zoo has big plans. In the coming years he would like to increase his area by a fifth. That’s not so easy, since the Zolli is in the middle of the city. The massive expansion will only be possible if the existing parking lot right in front of the entrance is removed and a land reserve at the other end of the zoo is reused.
Legend:
The Basel Zoo expansion plans (green).
zvg/Zoo Basel
The legal requirements for this are reasonably favorable. In any case, a new car park is to be built right next to the zoo for the parking spaces. Approval for this is available. And the land at the back entrance belongs to the zoo until 2070 with building rights.
After years of qualitative growth, we would now also like to increase quantitatively.
Olivier Pagan, the busy zoo director, denies that he wants to press ahead with the expansion plans in order to compete better with the Zurich Zoo for visitors. “After years of qualitative growth, we now simply want to increase again quantitatively.”
Not only do the animals that we care for thrive here, but also other plants and animals.
Pagan also points to several studies. These state that Basel Zoo plays an important role in biodiversity. “Not only do the animals that we care for thrive here, but also numerous plants and animals that have incidentally found their habitat with us.”
Long time horizon
There are no concrete plans for the use of the two areas totaling 21,000 square meters, which is roughly the size of two football pitches. Rather, the Zolli now wants to invite architects and other experts to contribute their ideas to the development of the areas. Good solutions should be worked out together with the zoo employees. The zoo has not yet ordered the future animals. The test planning that has now started is intended to show what the zoo could look like in 25 years.
Legend:
This is what the Ozeanium should have looked like from the inside.
zvg Basel Zoo
Olivier Pagan takes a gentle approach to the expansion steps. That’s not surprising. The Basel Zoo is a crowd pleaser and well anchored in the noble Basel society. In 2019, however, the zoo failed with the ambitious project of an “Oceanium”. Numerous fish and marine animals should have been given generous tanks in it. Zolli practically had the money together. But the electorate rejected the project mainly for animal welfare reasons.