Dortmund (dpa / lnw) - The Dortmund Zoo will close its Amazon house at the end of the year. The decisive factor for this is the untimely high energy consumption of the building, which opened in 1992 and is in dire need of renovation, the city announced on Monday.
Originally, the Amazon house was supposed to continue operating until a new tropical house was built. In view of the exploding energy costs, the crisis team of the city of Dortmund decided to pull the emergency brake and to close the house completely as soon as possible, the city announced. Due to the frequently defective heating and ventilation system, the outdated windows and the poor insulation of the building construction, the house consumes more than a third of the zoo's total electricity and gas requirements, according to the city.
The Amazonas house has been closed to visitors since the beginning of the corona pandemic in order to rule out any risk to the monkeys living there. Some of the 150 animal residents in 35 species of the Amazon House are already moving. Most are given to other zoos. This process is already underway, it said. Some animals should also stay in the Ruhr area city.
The Amazon Tropical House gave visitors an insight into the diversity of tropical South American wildlife, from fish and reptiles to snakes and forest turtles to caimans and pygmy marmosets. In the long term, the construction of a new tropical house in Dortmund Zoo is planned.
