Zoo offers guided tours, opens falconry

Petra Lessoing
Kaiserslautern American


***image1***Kaiserslautern Zoo will celebrate zoo day as a part of Germany’s zoo days 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The event will include guided tours, special performances, children’s activities and the opening of a falconry.

During guided tours, zoo keepers will take visitors to places not
normally seen and answer questions about the zoo and its animals.

Circus Bellisima will provide entertainment with acrobats, jugglers,
clowns and magicians. All performers are children who travel through
the country to show off their skills.

Children can enjoy puppet theater performances, listen to fairy tales
and have fun on the giant slide. Horse carriages will be available to
offer relaxing rides.

“Non-threatening animals such as camels and lamas will be taken to the
feast meadow at 4 p.m. where they build an animal caravan,” said Karin
Haselbach, zoo office administrator.

The highlight of the zoo day will be the opening of the falconry at 3:30 p.m. with Kaiserslautern’s Lord Mayor Bernhard Deubig.

“Finally we got the approval for our falconry, which is one more part
that adds to the total concept of the zoo,” said zoo director Matthias
Schmitt

“This is a valuable program for kindergarten and school children. They can learn everything about falconry,” added Mr. Schmitt.

Falconer Andreas Reussink will present his birds, talk about history,
falcon associations, hawking, nature protection and his job.

Sunday, after the official opening Mr. Reussink will show off the birds
together with Andreas Bauer, who actually owns the birds of prey. There
also will be a steppe eagle, Siberian eagle owl, griffon, falcon and
two Harris Hawks. Mr. Reussink will also explain their daily exercise
schedule for the season, which is March through October.

***image2***Daily flying performances are 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays
and Thursdays, and 11 a.m., 3 and 5 p.m. Sundays and holidays.

Also during zoo day, the Zoo Friends Kaiserslautern will celebrate
their 25th anniversary. At 2:30 p.m. their chief, Werner Fritiznger
will show what all they did for the zoo during the last 25 years and
Lord Mayor Deubig will honor those who are members since the very
beginning.

Then visitors can see the progress of the outside area for a specific
kind of monkeys, which is being financed by the Zoo Friends
Kaiserslautern.

Food booths will be available with bratwurst, French fries, cakes and
more. The restaurant will serve a special lunch menu at a reasonable
price.
 
The Kaiserslautern Zoo is located in Siegelbach, which is a part of
Kaiserslautern, west of Vogelweh. Look for the sign “Tierpark,” which
is another word for zoo, in the center of Siegelbach.