Wildpark Gangelt, Wildlife park in Mindergangelt, Germany.
Wildpark Gangelt features native European animals including red deer, wild boars, lynx, and various bird species housed in naturalistic enclosures that mimic their original habitats.
Wildpark Gangelt opened on 24 May 1969 in the municipality of Gangelt, North Rhine-Westphalia. Over time it grew into a 50-hectare park holding brown bears, wild boars, wolves and some 30 animal species, and it added a bird-of-prey station with regular free-flight demonstrations. It also runs species-protection and reintroduction programmes: lynx born in the park are released in Poland, and mink are kept under the European conservation breeding programme.
Local beekeepers run the park's bee house, where visitors can watch honey production. The integrated bird-of-prey station holds regular free-flight demonstrations with its large raptor collection. The park also keeps lynx and mink within European conservation breeding programmes, preparing young animals for release, with lynx later freed in Poland.
The park lies just across the Dutch border near Sittard, Brunssum and Schinveld, in the hamlet of Mindergangelt within the municipality of Gangelt. It sits entirely within woodland, so paths run through trees rather than open ground. Bird of prey displays are held every day, so time a visit around one of them.
Young lynxes born in the park are raised there until a certain age and then released into the wild in Poland. Minks, threatened by habitat loss, are kept under the European Endangered Species Programme. The park also runs a bee house managed by local beekeepers.
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