Dierenrijk ready for the future with new name: Eindhoven Zoo

With a festive unveiling, Dierenrijk has announced its new name: the zoo is now called Eindhoven Zoo. The announcement took place during the official opening of the renovated tiger and elephant enclosures. General manager Sander van der Heul: "In all areas, we are investing in the future of this park, developing even further as a great zoo and this new name matches the qualities we have to offer much better."

This year marks exactly 20 years since Dierenrijk Europa opened its doors. Over the years, the addition 'Europe' disappeared and the park was allowed to welcome animals from other continents, such as elephants, chimpanzees, rhinos and tigers.

Van der Heul: "We can be genuinely proud of where we are today. We have worked hard not only to create a park where visitors come face to face with different animal species and marvel at the splendour of nature, but where we also take responsibility in the field of education and conservation. For instance, through management programmes, we actively contribute to the conservation of many of the endangered species living in our park. Through the Wildlife Foundation, we support conservation organisations at home and abroad. With education in the park, we provide visitors with concrete action perspectives to actively contribute to nature conservation themselves."  

Future

In the coming years, the park plans to focus even more on nature conservation and education. Van der Heul: "That is why we are investing a lot in the quality of the park. Animal enclosures are adapted to the latest insights, such as more natural habitats to stimulate the animals' species-specific behaviour. This year, we have already taken some great steps in this: the elephant enclosure has received a major upgrade and the tiger enclosure has been completely renovated."

The tiger enclosure has grown three times its size and takes into account the Amur tigers' natural habitat by adding enrichment elements in its design. For example, there are several hills so they can lie high up and a watercourse with running water has been created in which they can swim. Two shelters provide shelter. Interactive education has also been placed around the enclosure, explaining topics such as threat status, role of predators in ecosystem and camouflage colour.

New name

In addition, the park plans to further expand accommodation options by building additional play areas and revamping the catering facilities. Accessibility is a key focus here. "We want everyone to be able to explore here, so we're trying to take that into account with the construction of wide, paved paths, for example. A water playground has also been created next to the new tiger enclosure, which is also partly wheelchair-accessible."

With such a large, fully-fledged park, it also needs a name that exudes these qualities, Van der Heul says: "To us, the name Dierenrijk did not sufficiently convey what we stand for. So we decided to change the name to one that better reflects who we are and what we offer. Dierenrijk therefore becomes Eindhoven Zoo."