 LOCATION:
PB 161
, 6410 Goldau
, Switzerland
Phone: 0041--8590606
Fax: 8590607
URL: http://tierpark.ch
 KEY WORDS:
Breeding, Reintroduction
 ANIMALS:
| Family: | Species: | Common Name: | Capacity: |
| Accipitridae | Gypaetus barbatus | bearded vulture | 1.1 |
| Leporidae | Lepus timidus | snow hare | 1.1 |
 AWARDS:
2005 WWF Switzerland Award for the Bearded Vulture Project
 DESCRIPTION:
The primary purpose of the exhibit aviary for bearded vultures focuses on informing visitors about bearded vultures and their habitat. An integrated display informs on breeding and reintroduction of bearded vultures in Europe. The Goldau Animal Park has made a huge commitment to this project through its own additional breeding station.
The exhibit is home to a pair of bearded vultures, who can fly freely in the aviary. Since bearded vultures are scavengers and don’t actively hunt live prey, the aviary is a safe habitat for snow hares. This enlightens visitors about life style and habitat of bearded vultures.
 SIZE:
The bearded vulture aviary is 810 square meters and 7 meters high. It has a volume of approximately 7,000 cubic meters. The nylon mesh has openings of 100x100 mm and a thickness of 4 mm. The information pavilion is 32 square meters. The breeding station (outside the zoo property) is 560 square meters and has about 4,500 cubic meters of space. It is divided into two parts, each approximately 230 square meters, and a separate shift area of 100 square meters. The aviary borders a service building that is 40 square meters. Space allocation in square meters:
| use | indoors | outdoors | total exhibit |
| accessible | total | accessible | total |
| animals | | | | 810 | 810 |
| visitors | | 28 | | | 28 |
| others | | 4 | | | 4 |
| total | | | | | 842 |
 COSTS:
SFR 950,000
The costs include the construction of the exhibit aviary and the furnishing of the bordering information pavilion, which was already there. The construction of the breeding aviary was not included in this budget.
 OPENING DATE:
20 May 1995
 DESIGN:
Beginning: December 1993
- Planning: Landscape and Animal Park Goldau
 CONSTRUCTION:
Beginning: October 1994
- Construction: C. Vanoli, Immensee
- Subcontractor: Kennel AG, Oberarth
- Steel construction: Kaufmann AG, Goldau
- Statics: Wesako, Kreuzlingen
- Ropes, Meshes: Saalmann und Fehr, Tägerwilen
 LOCAL CONDITIONS:
 PLANTS:
Alpine meadow with spruce, pine, and European rowan (European mountain ash).
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO ANIMALS:
In the aviary, the vultures can soar up to 50 meters off of platforms of varying heights. The large cliff wall has two shelters built into it, which are protected from the elements. The vultures like to use the red loam mud bath. For the snow hares, there are protected hiding areas.
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO KEEPERS:
The keepers can monitor the vulture shelters with video cameras. Two storage rooms are available in the building. A gate on the path allows vehicle access to the aviary. A large raised stone serves as the feeding station for the vultures; it makes cleaning very easy and enables visitors to comfortably observe the feeding.
 FEATURES DEDICATED TO VISITORS:
The slope, vegetation, and the running stream all add to the "alpine" feel of the exhibit. The views from above (the north side), below (the south side), and the side view (southwest side), provide different perspectives and details of the exhibit. The interpretive offerings about the bearded vultures are diverse and are aimed at different interest groups. In front of the information pavilion, there is a bronze sculpture, which is often used as a photo opportunity.
 INTERPRETATION:
The graphics, videos, and artefacts inform visitors about the natural history of bearded vultures, their range, causes of their endangerment, efforts taken to protect them, and the reintroduction project.
Through descriptive materials, the dimensions of bearded vultures are brought closer to visitors. For example, visitors can compare their hands with the talons of a golden eagle and a bearded vulture.
 MANAGEMENT:
The combination of having an exhibit and a breeding aviary offers flexibility in forming breeding pairs. The food composition corresponds to the food in the wild and seasonal changes are respected. Meat and bones of goats and sheep are preferably fed.
All young bearded vultures are raised exclusively by their own parents or by foster parents so that their vulture specific behaviors can completely develop.
 RESEARCH:
In the breeding aviary, various tracking methods are tested on the bearded vultures. These tracking methods will be used on released young birds to track their flight patterns.
Two young bearded vultures, which were released in the Swiss National Park in June 2005, can be located thanks to satellite tracking. The Organization Pro Bearded Vultures – with support from WWF Switzerland and a European LIFE Project – is researching the little-known migrations of young bearded vultures. The excursions of the released bearded vulture can be followed on the internet through the project "Bearded Vultures On The Move": www.bartgeier.ch ("Bartgeier unterwegs").
 CONSERVATION:
In 1913, bearded vultures became extinct in the Alps. In 1978, the reintroduction project in the Alps was created thanks to the cooperation of 30 zoos, various national parks, the Zoological Society of Frankfurt, and the WWF.
After a comprehensive breeding program was built among zoos throughout all of Europe, the first bearded vultures were released in Rauris, Austria in 1986. Since then (by 2006), 147 young bearded vultures have been released in artificial shelters in four release regions. The bearded vultures have been doing extremely well in the Alps. Meanwhile, several pairs have formed. In 1997, the first wild bred young bird flew out of his eyrie in Hochsavoyen. Since then (by 2006), 34 wild bred young bearded vultures have fledged. Everything points to a successful reintroduction of bearded vultures in the Alps. Much effort is still necessary, until a sustainable population will be established.
In 1998, the Goldau Animal Park built two bearded vulture breeding aviaries in its expansion area “Grosswyier.” The two aviaries are angled perfectly to the south and contain a combined volume of approximately 5200 cubic meters. Directly adjacent to the aviaries is a keeper area for breeding observation. The breeding station is not accessible to visitors, since bearded vultures are very sensitive to disturbances during breeding season. At about 100 days old, the young bearded vultures are released as a part of the reintroduction project.
The observations of bearded vultures in the Alps are collected online by the organization Wild Animals Switzerland in Zurich (www.bartgeier.ch).
 LOCAL RESOURCES:
Local companies were contracted for construction. The food is delivered by local butchers. |
 |
| 34K | 48K |
| Bearded Vulture (1) |
| ©Animal Park Goldau, 2005 |
 |
| 28K | 28K |
| Snow Hare (2) |
| ©Animal Park Goldau, 2005 |
 |
| 36K | 36K |
| Young Bearded Vulture (14) |
| ©Animal Park Goldau, 2005 |
 |
| 20K | 22K |
| Released Bearded Vulture (24) |
| ©Animal Park Goldau, 2006 |
 |
| 75K | 96K |
| Snow Hare in Summer (25) |
| ©Animal Park Goldau, 2005 |
|
