History
The island Korkeasaari, just before the coast of Helsinki, has been a recreational park for Helsinki people long before the zoo was founded, since 1569. It was first used as pasture and for fishing. In the 19th century, it was used for storing timber. During the Crimean war (1853-1856), the island was a military area and closed for the public. Helsinki city gained access to it again and after lengthy negotiations and debate in the press, the island was restored to public use for Helsinki inhabitants after nearly ten years, in 1864. The visit of Emperor Alexander II to Helsinki is also thought to have influenced the outcome of the debate. Then the recreational use really started: steamboat traffic was established, and the island of Korkeasaari became a popular park to the citizens of Helsinki. As people liked to go to the island to picnic it was decided to establish a restaurant. A few years after the completion of the restaurant, an idea spawned regarding the placing of a small collection of animals in Korkeasaari. Two hawks in cages had already been introduced to the park, and they had attracted a lot of attention. Lieutenant Fabritius, the Secretary to the Board of Directors of Anniskeluyhtiö, the restaurateurs society, was authorised to view the Stockholm and Copenhagen zoos among the other duties on his travels. Fabritius became keen on the subject, drew up a compreh ensive report and proposed establishing a zoo in Korkeasaari.
The city fathers and management of Anniskeluyhtiö were in favour of establishing the zoo; after all, it would provide the working class and children of poor families with an elevating pastime and education. However, there was a heated debate regarding the final location of the zoo, and after voting it was only by a slight majority that it was decided that it should be established at Korkeasaari instead of the rival location between Alppila and Pasila, which even today bears the name Eläintarha (zoo in Finnish).
The Helsinki Zoo was established in 1889. However, animals had been housed in the park even before that. Many new animals were donated to the zoo. Finally, the zoo had to place an advertisement in the newspaper asking people to stop offering new animals because they were unable to construct animal shelters as quickly as the growing collection of animals would have required. The animal shelters were works of art by the contemporary architects. The old stone-walled Bear Castles and the Polar Bear Castle by the quay, both dating back to the early 1900s, still remind us of the history of keeping animals in Korkeasaari.
Both World Wars had severe impact on the existence of the zoo. Its final renaissance began in the 1950s: The new Bear Castle was completed in time for the Olympic year 1952, and the Monkey House in 1956. The first Cat Valley was completed in 1964.
In summer, the zoo was accessible by boat and in winter by a road over the ice. Steamboats carried picnickers to the island well before the zoo was established. Regular ferry traffic began in 1949, and it continued until the early 1980s when the current boat connections were introduced. The zoo has only been open to the public throughout the year since 1974 when the first temporary bridge from Mustikkamaa was completed. The current bridge was built in 2004. As the Zoo is situated just a stone's throw from the southern tip of Kalasatama, the sounds of the wild cats carry over the water to the mainland in springtime and can sometimes be heard. A new bridge and tram connection will be built to Korkeasaari as part of the Kruunuvuorenselkä bridge project. An international open ideas competition for the development of Helsinki Zoo, held in 2009, was won by the French architecture firm Beckmann-N´Thepe in collaboration with landscape designer TN+ Agency (see the evaluation). The zoo will subsequently undergo major changes over the coming decade.
The Zoo's look and activities have changed in its 120 years of operation. The concepts behind animal husbandry and good facilities and activities for the animals, and the attitudes of the public towards the animals is completely different from when the Zoo was established. Animal facility construction throughout Europe is regulated by rules that aim for the well-being of the animals. The objective of the Helsinki Zoo is also to ensure that the behaviour of the animals is as natural as possible, which means that the animals are not tamed, and cubs are not bottle-fed.
Helsinki Zoo has been involved, next to other nature conservation and education activities, in returning back to nature captive bred endangered species. The Zoo has donated ibexes to the Austrian Alps, European bison to Russia, lynx to Poland, European minks to Estonia and snowy owls and golden eagles to suitable habitats in Finland.
(Source: website Helsinki zoo; Wikipedia; Helsinki's Horizon 2030 , Helsinki City Planning Department, 2010)
Visit(s)
29.04.2010
Arriving at the entrance of Helsinki Zoo confronts the visitor with the unique location of this zoo. The grounds are all surrounded by water. You have to cross a bridge by foot to get to the island. An ideal situation to control biosecurity, which could be at stake whenever there is transport of animals (and people).When you set foot on the island and make your way to the enclosures it is like you are entering someone's private backyard which happen to be a well-kept public park. You walk along some houses which are used by zoo staff and then there are the enclosures. Depending on your interest you arrive at the Cat Valley or the Amazonia house or the bearded Vulture aviary. But wherever you go you never get the feeling of moving from enclosure to enclosure, because the lay-out of the Zoo is very relaxed. It is obvious that the decisions made by Zoo-management resulted in careful exploitation of space to foster the feeling of leisure and space, and keeping only those animals in captivity which they found suitable for the environment and climate zone without trying to exhibit as much animals as possible.
Cat Valley has been developed and re-developed, but still doesn't comply to the idea of bar-less enclosures. All the big and small cats are housed in enclosures surrounded by wire mesh fences and roofed with nylon netting. This doesn't necessarily mean that the animals cannot express natural behaviour or that animal welfare is impaired. Because, in general, the 'cages' are huge, and more or less provide a natural habitat. Almost all enclosures have these wire mesh fences on all sides, therefore the animals are exposed to the public at all times. This allows good viewing from the visitor's perspective, but it does not create a tranquil environment for the cats.
The Zoo management is trying to grow shrubs and trees just alongside the fences to hide the interior of the enclosures (and the fences probably) from the public, and only allow viewing from certain dedicated points - at glass window panes. They seem to succeed only at the snow leopard enclosures, though it is hard to tell just after winter, of course. Whether this is typical I don't know, but the fact is that the snow leopard is the Zoo's showpiece, and this really shows. Although all the big cat enclosures mimic the natural habitat with a water stream or pool, hide-outs, trees, rocks, lookout posts or whatever the Asian lion, Amur tiger, Amur leopard, Pallas cat, Eurasian lynx and European wild cat require, none of them have got access to such a superb environment as the snow leopard. The Zoo houses four snow leopards in three separate enclosures. As the snow leopard's natural habitat is to be found at high altitudes in mountainous areas, like the bare Himalayas, the huge rocky and bare grounds of their enclosure provides ample opportunity to do what they do: roam through their territory and hide and sleep as much as possible. Remarkable is the use of leather balls as enrichment, next to scratching posts and other things in all enclosures. The Zoo keeps of most cats more than one specimen, male and female, which indicates the will to breed. Therefore it is good to see that they have several enclosures at their disposal to either house animals together or separate them when necessary. And they have been quite productive with regard to the snow leopard, because the descendants of Helsinki Zoo snow leopards are now raised in zoos all over the world. And 116 cubs have already been born in Helsinki Zoo until 2006.
Like the (big) cats the different species of big ungulates are kept in fenced enclosures, may they be wire mesh or brick wall. Nevertheless, without exception all these species can roam on very large meadows or sandy grounds. Except for the Bactrian camel and the Przewalski horse they all live in herds of acceptable size, like six to eight, or regarding the European forest reindeer sometimes even more. For the moment the Zoo is renovating the European bison enclosure. It will be enlarged, and considering the size of the works that are ongoing it promises to get huge.
Which also is huge and impressive is the enclosure of the alpine ibex. Without doubt the best imitation of natural surroundings in the Zoo. The terrain is an exact copy of the rocky mountainous area these animals live in. And it is no surprise they were able to breed ibex in captivity to release them in the Hohe Tauern national park in Austria, where the ibex almost completely disappeared due to hunting.
Another animal which is bred in Helsinki Zoo with the purpose to inhabit the area of their origin again is the European mink. The mink house looks rather nice with lots of hiding places, a small waterfall, a water stream and several connecting enclosures adjacent with rough terrain consisting of rocks and trees. The European mink has disappeared from Finland after the invasion of its habitat by the American mink. The Hiiumaa Conservation project on the island Hiiumaa just off the coast of Estonia is aimed at eradicating all American mink. And instead introduce captive bred European minks. This should, hopefully, result in a viable population without the threat of exclusion by the more aggressive American mink.
The aviaries, except for that of the Steller's eagles, are outdated. Even the walk-through aviary near the Amazonia house does not comply to modern standards, it is too small. But even the brand new exhibit for the two Steller's eagles, which looks roomy, allows for not more than 'tree hopping' by those magnificent birds. But aviaries are seldom large enough to allow birds to really fly freely, aren't they?
Having seen good effort and good choices in Helsinki Zoo to try and create natural habitats, I am a bit disappointed that the bear Castle, as it is called, does not fulfill the needs of the brown bear. According to the sign next to the enclosure the natural habitat for brown bears is forest and tundra. And the enclosure is definitely lacking trees. Although large in size and supplying water (stream and pool) the terrain is quite rocky and neither forest or tundra-like.
Gallery
Video
Wolverine (Gulo gulo,female, born 1996) at Helsinki Zoo, the island Korkeasaari.
Video credit: Uusijani (Wikipedia, Creative Commons)
More info
SmartZoos
In a project funded by the European Union three zoos - Tallinn Zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki and Skansen Zoo in Stockholm - in collaboration with two universities developed an innovative approach on how to attract the interest of the public for the educational activities of the zoos involved. Creative adventure learning with mobile devices it is called in the project description. Nowadays, most people below roughly 40 years of age become nervous when they do not have their smartphone in close range - their smartphone can be regarded as an inseparable extension of their hand, as if it is a natural body part. So, it could be a smart idea to challenge the zoo visitors with adventurous and educational tasks on a social interactive internet platform, because they are very much used to such platforms. Moreover, it seems that young people outgrew the simple method by which many old-timers have been educated in zoos - read the information panels!
SmartZoos is a location-based game service, where the activities will guide players through their environment and teach them a thing or two. In other words, SmartZoos is an online environment where people can complete exciting discovery trails. People who engage with SmartZoos will find out interesting knowledge about animals, will learn to watch and observe animals, get to solve exciting tasks, develop orientation skills and by accomplishing certain tasks within SmartZoos, they will be rewarded with badges. SmartZoos is a modern way to combine education with gamified fun, and is further promoted like this, 'you can create fun and activities to be used by you and other SmartZoos users when you have a Creator account.'
The SmartZoos project is part of the European Union's Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme in the framework of which the aforementioned partners have set up a series of gamified, yet educational discovery trails. More discovery trails will be established, the trails will constantly change and new features will be added.
(Source: Tallinn Zoo website; SmartZoos platform; Interreg Central Baltic website )
Zoo details
Some additional information, such as contact details and involvement in breeding programmes.
Location
Directions
Directions to Helsinki Zoo
Helsinki Zoo is one of the few zoos worldwide located on an island. It is the perfect place to visit due to its natural environment, animals and history. The Korkeasaari island lies close to the city centre. All year round you can get to Helsinki Zoo at Korkeasaari via the bridge that connects Korkeasaari with Mustikkamaa recreation area on the adjacent island. In summer, you can also take the boat from the Kauppatori market place or Hakaniemi.
Address:
Mustikkamaanpolku 12
Korkeasaari-Högholmen
Helsinki
Finland
public transport
by bus
Bus 16, the Zoo Bus, runs from the Central Railway Station to the Helsinki Zoo all year round every day, except on Christmas Eve. The platform at the Railway Station is no. 8. Estimated travel time is approximately 22 minutes.
by ferry
It is far more fun of course to take the boat to the island during summer.
From Market Square: The Kauppatori boat runs every day through May to September. The pier is located in front of the Presidential Palace (Pohjoisesplanadi 1).
From Hakaniemi: The Hakaniemi ferry runs every day from June to August and during the weekends in May. The pier is located in Hakaniemenranta.
by bicycle
Helsinki is a vibrant city that besides many office buildings and houses offers lots of nature. You can enjoy your sightseeing and the beautiful nature best on a bicycle along the 750 km of well maintained cycle lanes and paths. Good information on cycle routes, maps and bike rentals is provided by the tourist information website and by bicyclean helsinki.
by car
It is reciommended to use public transport or go by bicycle in summer! Parking is available at the Mustikkamaa recreation area, some 400 meters from the zoo entrance. Half of the parking area is free of charge, but please note that the number of parking spaces is limited. Parking outside the parking lot is forbidden as it will block the bus route and emergency vehicles.
When using SatNav please use this destination address: Marsalkantie.
Zoo map
Download the zoo map here.
