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News from Sihlwald and Langenberg
Deadwood in the Sihlwald
Wild nature requires attention
Heavy snowfall, continuous rain and winter storms bring a lot of dynamism to the forest. Fallen trees block the path and even in quiet times, dry branches can break off from time to time.
The Sihlwald has been allowed to revert to a wilderness for almost 25 years. You can now clearly see and feel this. Weakened or dead trees are allowed to stand or remain standing. This is a benefit for nature: rare species of fungi, plants and animals find a habitat here thanks to the large amount of dead wood.
New prices for parking in the Zurich Wilderness Park
The Zurich Wilderness Park Foundation is increasing the daily flat rate for visitor parking by five francs as of January 1, 2024. The foundation uses this income to finance a significant part of its operations. The reason for the price increase is rising costs for the maintenance of animal facilities and visitor infrastructure.
Admission to the Zurich Wilderness Park is free for visitors. This is only possible because the foundation's sponsors and the Zürcher Kantonalbank as the main sponsor finance a large part of the operation. The sponsors include the city and canton of Zurich, municipalities in the district of Horgen and Pro Natura Zurich.
Good news!
Better bus connections to Langenberg Wildlife Park
There are now many more buses to Langenberg Zoo at weekends.
The timetable change on December 10, 2023 will bring a great innovation: many more buses will now travel to Langenberg Wildlife Park at weekends. Line 153 now also stops at Langnau a.A., Schwerzi-Wildpark. It runs every 20 minutes between Adliswil station and Langnau-Gattikon station and is coordinated with the S4 timetable.
Winter season - adjustment of opening hours
The visitor center and the nature museum are closed during the winter season. In addition, the animal enclosures, the Langenberg West park area, the Langenberg restaurant and the store at Langenberg Zoo have adjusted opening hours.
Sihlwald: Please note that the visitor center and the nature museum in Sihlwald will be closed during the winter season until 29 March 2024. The area with playground, fire pit, aquarium and otter enclosure will remain accessible. There are also covered and wind-protected tables and seating.
Wilderness day in the Sihlwald
An exciting event for the whole family: a wilderness day will be held in Sihlwald on September 24. The focus is on the reconquest of the forests by the red deer and the realm of mushrooms.
The Sihlwald forest provides the ideal backdrop for the wilderness day: as a nature discovery park with a high proportion of dead wood, it provides a habitat for numerous species of fungi. Among them are rare species such as the lemon yellow tramete. The Sihlwald is also home to the red deer. Ongoing monitoring documents how the population is developing.
Birth of the first bison calf in the Solothurn Jura
The herd of bison from the Langenberg zoo, which have been living in semi-freedom in the canton of Solothurn since last year, have had offspring.
On the night of July 4th, the first bison calf was born in Welschenrohr as part of the "Wisent Thal" project. It is the very first bison birth in the Solothurn Jura for around 1000 years.
Young lynxes in the Zurich Wilderness Park
A trip to Langenberg Zoo is particularly worthwhile at the moment. Young animals can be observed in many animal species. Particularly pleasing: the lynxes have also given birth again - two females. The two should one day contribute to the preservation of the free-living lynx population in Europe.
With a bit of luck, young lynx can currently be seen again at Langenberg Zoo. The two cubs - both females - were born at the end of April.
Be careful with fire
Due to the ongoing drought, there is a considerable risk of forest fires in the canton of Zurich. Fire must be handled with care in and near forests.
There has not been a day of rain in the canton of Zurich for around 3 weeks. The current heatwave and the breeze are having a strong drying effect on the forest. As no significant precipitation is forecast for the next few days, the canton of Zurich rates the risk of forest fires as "considerable" (level 3 out of 5). It is not yet forbidden to light fires. However, the recommendation is to refrain from doing so in and near the forest and to extinguish fires properly with water.
Annual Report 2022 of the Zurich Wilderness Park Foundation
The most important events at a glance
Zurich Wilderness Park is and remains a popular excursion destination: a total of 658,000 visits were recorded in Sihlwald and Langenberg Zoo in 2022.
After the difficult pandemic years, normality returned to Zurich Wildlife Park in 2022; there were no more closures or other restrictions. A total of 658,000 visits were recorded at Tierpark Langenberg and Sihlwald.
The young wolves have left the Langenberg
In spring 2022, the birth of four young wolves at Zurich Wilderness Park caused great joy. Now the cubs have found a new home in Winterthur and Innsbruck.
At the age of one to two years, young wolves usually leave their pack and look for their own territory. This week, the four cubs born in May 2022 at Langenberg Zoo left Zurich Wildlife Park. One male was taken to Bruderhaus Wildlife Park in Winterthur, where he will form a new pack with a young female from Bern Zoo. The three other young animals are in the quarantine station at Zurich Zoo for three to four weeks, after which they will be taken to the Alpine Zoo in Innsbruck.
