In the Hour of the Lynx that took place on the 79th birthday of the Tallinn Zoo Tiit Maran, the Zoo director, explained at the lynx enclosure how scientists found out whether the wolf is stronger than the lynx. And veterinarian Aleksandr Semjonov talked about the most dangerous creatures in the zoo – and they are not at all the polar bear or tiger, not to mention the lynx!
The Hour of the Lynx was arranged by the Friends of the Tallinn Zoo, the Animal of the Year group and the Tallinn Zoo.
Estonian text posted by the Animal of the Year team 26.08.2018
At the 79th birthday of the zoo we were reminded of the fact that the zoo got started from lynx Illu whom the Estonian shooting competition team was given in 1937 when they had become world champions in Helsinki in 1937 and had won the Argentina Cup. Understandable that at some time after that a zoo came about – where would these shooters otherwise have put lynx Illu? A living place had to be created, in addition there were also two homeless bears… We must realize that the prewar attitudes to animals differed entirely from those today. Would we today present someone with a wild animal for instance at an anniversary? Or present the Estonian football association with a wild lynx kitten in honour of
The zoo is a place that has taught us much to reach this understanding and all the time developed itself and educated us. Thank you! The relations have changed totally, the animals are kept more and more carefully. Now it is even a little bit comic to see how very carefully the animal of the year is treated at Tallinn Zoo. The lynxes there have offspring but they are not shown to the public. Yet. Because the kittens have to be vaccinated several times befor that. It is of course right and praiseworthy but we hope that the kittens will not grow up before that and the most cuddly-lovable period will not pass before they can be seen.
Helen Arusoo
Video editing: Tarmo Mikussaar, Helen Arusoo