History Ouwehands zoo Rhenen

Started as a chicken farm, transformed to a zoo, the Ouwehands zoo opened its gates in 1932. When World War II broke out the Dutch army decided that the carnivores had to be destroyed to prevent their escape during attacks. Zoo director Ouwehand did it himself. Nevertheless, he has managed to rescue a polar bear and 2 cubs. After the capitulation he started to rebuild the zoo grounds. Then again after the landing of the Allied troups in 1944, the Germans said that the newly acquired animals had to be slaughtered, partly for food. Zoo keepers gathered the animals to take them into the forest around Veenendaal, where many of them survived.

1995 Bear forest
The Bear forest, initiated by Alertis and Ouwehands zoo, is a sanctuary for abused bears and also home to wolves. The 2 ha semi-natural enclosure is divided into 2 parts. From a platform between a bridge and a tunnel for visitors there is a nice view on the forest.

1997 Tiger forest
A naturallike habitat for Amur tigers. Like the Bear forest the design includes a tiger tunnel for spectators.

2000 new enclosures for orangutans and polar bears
The orang utans get an enclosure with a system of ropes and wooden stakes partly located outdoors for vine swinging above the heads of the zoo visitors.

A new enclosure for the polar bears opens in June. The bears are separated from the visitors by 40 mm thick triplex glass.

2001 Red Urucu & White Valley
Launch of Urucu where red is the color. South American Indians make red body paints from a pod called urucu.
White lions will play a central role in a project called White Valley.

Thanx for visiting www.happybami.nl       

2003 RavotAapia
Launch of a jungle playground of 2 Ha.

2004 ZOOP
Cameras roll in the zoo. Popular kid-TV giant Nickelodeon presents ZOOP: 8 young adults having started to become a zoo keeper.

2005 Out of Africa
Launch of an African village, Umkhosi, safarilike playground for children, enclosures for Amur (Siberian) tigers, lions, Chapman zebra's, Rothschild giraffes, warthogs, bongo's, mandrils and meerkats.

2007 75th birthday
Ouwehands zoo celebrates its 75th birthday with an exhibition of old pictures and more. In the compound of the polar bears Wim Hof aka the iceman is standing for about 70 minutes in a bin filled with ice cubes. Launch of a new compounds for Humboldt penguins and for African Elephants.