The plot of land just behind the elephants and the savannah in Artis is stillquite a mess. The earth is plowed and strewn with stones and steel cables,bulldozers drive frantically back and forth, building materials are everywhereand men in orange vests are walking.
At the beginning of next year, an amazing lion enclosure should be built here,complete with a tunnel, cave, waterfalls and above all a lot of space. Intotal, the new residence will cover about 1800 square meters. Compared tothis, the current home of the lion trio, the Kerbert Terrace from 1928, withjust over 180 square meters, is rightly a tiny house to name.
“They are improving in such a way,” says a delighted Tjerk ter Meulen, who asmanager Animal and Plant is primarily responsible for all plants and animalsin Artis. The enclosure was designed by landscape architect Thijs de Zeeuw,who also designed the new space for the elephants, and it is somewhat similarto that. “They get grass, sand, water they can mess around in, high vantagepoints, rocks and all kinds of trees in which we will hang carcasses. Let’ssee if they play with that.”
Impression of the new lion enclosure, seen from the visitor’s passage.ImageArtist
Four lockdowns
They must have moved before the high season of next year. “That will be veryexciting, I have no idea how they will react. The females are ten and elevenyears old, the male about six years old. I hope they don’t get too shocked bysuddenly so much space around them.” There are no congeners for the timebeing. “Let’s see how they like it here.”
Last year, the future of the lions looked a lot less rosy, when a one-wayticket to France was booked for them. Artis was in enormous financial troubledue to the corona crisis – the zoo had to close its doors four times due to alockdown and ran into a million-dollar deficit – so there was no money leftfor the much-needed new stay.
It was decided that they would be better off in a French animal park. Whenthat deal fell through at the last minute, two anonymous benefactors, a fundand a private individual, decided to sponsor the complete renovation, so thatthe lions were allowed to stay in Amsterdam forever. There was a sigh ofrelief from the city. Artis wouldn’t be Artis without a bunch of big cats.
Palms with steel cables
The animals that had to make way for the new lion enclosure have meanwhilebeen spoiled with a very prominent new place, right in front of the entrance.Where visitors came across the camel field for the past eighty years, thereare now algazels, an extinct antelope species from North Africa.
They reside under two knoperds of Chilean honey palms (secured with steelcables, in case of storms). “The camels had died, the cattle were moved to thesavannah, the donkeys and reindeer went to other zoos. These are domesticatedanimals that you also find on, for example, petting zoos, so we think they areless important to show.” Later, meerkats are added, which, like the lions, arenow somewhat cramped.
Leaky aquarium
In the meantime, the most radical renovation of Artis is taking place on thesouth side of the zoo: at the aquarium, which had to close with immediateeffect at the beginning of last year. In 138 years, rising salt water hascompletely affected the structures and facades, making it no longer safe toenter the building. And the aquarium was also leaking.
“We found a puddle of water on the ground floor every morning,” says ElineDanker, Artis Programming & Development Manager. “It was in a really dramaticstate, the aquarium was just about to collapse.”
The fish have been moved to other zoos and aquariums, so that the building cannow be completely renovated. But where the lions have been helped out thanksto their philanthropists (in fact, the benefactors also raised their walletsfor the algazel enclosure and the new use of the Kerbert Terrace), the fishare still in financial difficulties.
“Because it is a national monument, we first have to restore everything to itsformer glory – for example, we constantly find ornaments behind suspendedceilings, which all need to be restored. This will not only cost a lot oftime, but also a lot of money.” In total, Artis takes into account a cost of46 million. “And we’ve only got half of it now. So exceeding that amount isreally not allowed.”