This autumn you can go onto the mudflats in the polder. Whale sanctuary SOS Dolfijn is building a dune-like outdoor area at the Hoenderdaell zoo in Anna Paulowna, where porpoises, among other things, will have a place. “It is important to show that the Wadden Sea is also the habitat of porpoises.”
The idea is to create a kind of Madurodam of the Wadden Islands, says Annemarie van den Berg of SOS Dolfijn. “Education is an important pillar of our work. We are also located right next to the Oude Veer, an old creek of the Wadden Sea. Visitors will soon have the feeling that they are in a Wadden area, without us having to burden the Wadden.”
Nice outside
SOS Dolphin has been catching fish for several years stranded porpoises who often return to sea after care and recovery. According to Van den Berg, the outdoor area has great added value for the porpoises: “It is very nice for the animals to be in the open air and in the daylight in their final phase of recovery. But if, for example, a porpoise cannot return to the sea , it can stay here.”
In addition to porpoises, there will also be a smaller tank where seals will be kept and tanks for sharks and rays. It is not yet certain whether there will be rescued seals or specimens born in zoos. The drawings indicate that there is also room for a lookout tower, footpath and a simulated dune landscape.
The project receives subsidies from LEADER, the European Agricultural Fund, the Province of North Holland and the Wadden Fund, among others. The Wadden Fund already made €750,000 available for this project in 2022. The work has now started and the outdoor area should be ready in the autumn.