Germany: Jörg Junhold Continues as VdZ President

From June 16 to 18, about 130 members of the Association of Zoological Gardens (Ger.: Verband der Zoologischen Gärten / VdZ) met at the Verve event location in Krefeld for the annual conference and devoted themselves, among other issues, to the topic of “A World without Apes“. An accompanying press conference was intended to draw attention to the continuing and increasing threat to apes in the wild. In addition, the elections of the association‘s board was part of the agenda in this year. The three-man team at the head of the VdZ consisting of President Jörg Junhold (Director Leipzig Zoo), Vice President Dag Encke (Director Nuremberg Zoo) and Treasurer Tim Schikora (Director Schwerin Zoo) was re-elected by a large majority and will remain in office for another three-year term.

“The zoological gardens in German-speaking countries are among the most popular cultural and leisure facilities, with 45 million visitors annually. In the coming years, we want to further intensify our work on species conservation, our educational mission in preserving biodiversity, and our research work. For this we have an outstandingly positioned management team and a professional office in Berlin,“ commented Junhold.

New members of the board are Karin Federer (Walter Zoo, CH) and Uta Westerhüs (Opel Zoo Kronberg). The nine-member board is completed by Theo Pagel (Cologne Zoo, WAZA), Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck (Schönbrunn Zoo), André Stadler (Innsbruck Alpine Zoo) and Andreas Michael Casdorff (Hannover Adventure Zoo). (eap)