On May 29, 1935, the doors of the Noorder Dierenpark in Emmen opened for the very first time. Exactly ninety years later that is celebrated with an exhibition, where visitors walk through the history of the zoo in a nutshell.
Compiling the exhibition was a challenge, says Hanneke Wijshake of Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen. “It was really ‘Kill Your Darlings’. Based on a timeline we highlighted the most important moments and there are many photos.”
But not only photos fill the exhibition. There is also a skeleton of Chimpanzee Tommy by bike, images of Aleid Rensen in the program Fist away From Willem Duys, the well -known sharkbek in which many a child has put his hand and the spencer of the Rolo advertisement, where a boy in the zoo in Emmen challenges a small elephant with a candy.
What is particularly striking while viewing the exhibition is how dealing with animals and animal welfare has changed in ninety years. “Especially in the late 1990s there was a change,” Widshake explains. “Then the motto became: let the animal be animal again. That eventually also resulted in the construction of Wildlands. The park has become larger, but the animal file smaller. That means there is more room for the animals.”
In the coming years, Wijshake hopes that the zoo can be even more committed to nature conservation. “For example, in our current collection we have a small fish that no longer appears in the wild. Here we grow with that. In the end, the goal is, and that would really be a highlight that there are fishing from Emmen in a river in Mexico and that they are doing well again in the wild.”
The exhibition can be visited in the zoo from tomorrow to December 1. Curious about what can be seen during the exhibition? Then watch the video below.