:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/be90f55a-670c-11eb-a949-0255c322e81b.jpg "French zoo does not want lions Artis after all: ‘Surprised about violent reaction’ | Inland")
The management of the French zoo announced this to the Amsterdam park on Wednesday evening, says Artis director Rembrandt Sutorius. He says he is ‘baffled’ about the French decision.
“They say they cannot take over the lions from us because the accommodation is not available. “We believe we have conducted a careful process over the past six months to get our three lions placed there. This news comes to us like a bolt from the blue. We have been taken by surprise. It changes the situation of Artis drastically. ”
Last week, Artis announced that it would let the lions go because there is no money for the construction of a new and larger lion enclosure. This involves an amount of more than 4 million euros. The Amsterdam zoo ended up in losses due to the corona crisis. It had a deficit of 10 million euros last year. The number of visitors halved in 2020. Over the next five years, the zoo will be more than 20 million euros short for maintenance and investments.
Lioness
In the summer, Artis started a quest to house the lions elsewhere. We then contacted this French zoo, ”says Sutorius. “But we were not told that there was another lioness there. You can’t just put that lioness with the group from Artis. ” The residence in France is about three times as long as where they now live in Artis.
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The French have made their sincere apologies. What exactly was told to Artis? “We were told that the enclosure would be available to the group of Artis lions. For us it was important that we could settle our group there separately, without other lions. You can’t just introduce lions to each other, ”says the director. He does not want to anticipate what will happen next to the Artis lions.
French: ‘unhappy’
Pierre Caillé, director of La Palmyre zoo, calls the course of events ‘unfortunate’. “We thought we could place our lioness elsewhere, but that was canceled,” he told De Telegraaf. “She cannot live with the group of lions from Artis, so we cannot receive them. We have thought: in Amsterdam they have the resources and the competence to keep them there for a while. ”
The Frenchman says he is somewhat surprised at the fierce reaction from the Netherlands. “It often happens that such a transfer is canceled. We were going to put a group of capuchin monkeys in another zoo, we recently heard that that is being postponed for a year. There are more zoos in trouble, because of the pandemic they have less income. We did not know that it was such a big event for the employees and visitors of Artis, which they had fully prepared themselves for. I am sure these lions can end up elsewhere in Europe. Judging by the reactions, the audience is happy that they are staying a while longer… ”
Fundraising
Sutorius has had a dynamic week. The Amsterdam park has started a money collection. The zoo is receiving a lot of support. There are even children in the country who pass the doors. “Our first interest is to keep Artis afloat,” says Sutorius.
Since the fundraising campaign started last Thursday, the zoo has raised approximately 650,000 euros. Sutorius: “That is not enough to cover our deficits, but it is a wonderful amount. Anyway, that is not what we are concerned about right now. We are now working on how we can give the lions a future. We were committed to carrying out the agreements we had made with the French. ”
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