The history of the establishment of the Ostrava Zoo is closely connected with the activities of the miners of the Zárubek and Alexander mines during the construction of the so-called Mining Orchard. Mining orchard in Ostrava – Kunčičky. The orchard began to be established in 1948 on a six-hectare plot of land near the Alexander mine. The resulting nature park was used for recreation. It included, for example, a natural stage, a dance floor, a children’s paddling pool and a sandpit. At the initiative of Bohumil Vítek, it was decided in 1949 to establish a so-called zoo in the emerging park. The first inmates included one roe deer, two roe deer and five pheasants. They were soon joined by peacocks and, after the completion of the aviary, other birds. In January 1951, it was decided that a temporary zoo would be built in Ostrava-Kunčičky, which was also supported by experts led by doc. O. Štěpánek and the director of the Prague Zoo, Dr. C. Purkyně. Ostrava then approved the takeover of the zoo in the Mining Garden in Kunčičky for permanent administration and maintenance on 26.10.1951. On this day, the p.o. Ostrava Zoo was established. In April 1953, it decided to build a new zoo and thus began complicated negotiations to select a new location for the relocation of the zoo from Kunčičky – now it is located in Silesian Ostrava. At present, the Zoo is constantly being modified and modernized in order to best serve us humans for relaxation and education, but especially for the rescue of animal species, many of which no longer live in nature or will disappear from it in the near future.
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Zoos and theme parks