Germany: Start of Construction for New "Water Worlds" Area at Zoo Osnabrück

With an official groundbreaking ceremony, Zoo Osnabrück recently celebrated the start of a new construction project. At a volume of eight million euros, a new area called “Water Worlds” (German: Wasserwelten) is being built on an area of 5,000 square meters, where seals, sea lions, pink pelicans and Humboldt penguins will find a new home as of summer 2022. The new project, which is financed by an inheritance donation (two million euros) and by the state of Lower Saxony with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (2.8 million euros) as well as by a loan, is described as another milestone in the zoo’s history.

“When the previous sea lion tank was opened in 1973, it was a very special highlight. The zoo and all Osnabrück inhabitants were very proud to be able to realize the large project for 500,000 euros at the time – even though the sea lions did not move in until 1984. Today, the tank is more than outdated and we have wanted to modernize it for a long time,” says Dr. E.h. Fritz Brickwedde, President of the Zoo Osnabrück Society e.V. The zoo president also attaches particular importance to the environmental aspect of the investment. “With the new filter system, we save more than 15 million liters of water per year since we only have to change the water once a year instead of once a week.”

The new area is being built where the enclosures of the Humboldt penguins, the pink pelicans and the “NOZ-Kinderland” playground used to be, which had to make way for the construction project. In the future, the animals will have three to five times as much space as before. The Berlin-based dan pearlman Erlebnisarchitektur GmbH was brought on board as the architect company, and the construction project is being managed by the Planungsbüro Rohling (pbr) from Osnabrück. (eap)