Zoo La Garenne, Wildlife conservation center in Le Vaud, Switzerland.
Zoo La Garenne is an animal facility in Le Vaud housing native European species including birds of prey, wildcats, foxes, wolves, and reptiles. The grounds span multiple hectares with distinct areas designed for different animal groups.
Erwin Meier founded the park in 1952 on 6,100 m2 at Le Vaud and opened it to the public in 1962; it joined Switzerland's bearded vulture reintroduction programme in 1972. A female born there and released in 1989 raised the first chick in the wild since the species vanished from the Alps in 1913. Construction of a new 3-hectare park began in April 2014 at a cost of 14.5 million francs, and it opened in March 2016.
The park's name, La Garenne, refers to a warren or game reserve. Its guiding principle is that people protect what they know, so school classes use a 120 m2 teaching room and the animals shown are mostly Swiss species, wild and domestic. Many residents are handicapped individuals that cannot survive in the wild and stay for life.
The park is entered through a wooden pavilion by LOCALARCHITECTURE with a green roof of alpine plants; inside are reception, a gift shop and a restaurant. Paths lead to enclosures and to the 28 m-high aviary, where visitors walk among the rock walls where the birds nest. The site covers 3 hectares, so allow time on foot between the entrance and the far enclosures.
The zoo operates a medical care center for injured wild animals from the surrounding region. These animals receive treatment and are then released back into nature.
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