Zoo in der Wingst, Wingst

Wingst Zoo is located in the Elbe-Weser triangle in Wingst, Lower Saxony. Both wild and domestic animals are kept, partly in a petting zoo, which has been completely renovated since 2009. The design leans on a classic Lower Saxon farm.

In 1972, the animal trading company Ruhe founded the zoo under the name Baby Zoo. Kittens rejected by their parents were bought, raised by keepers and then given back to other zoos. When other zoos began to take more care of their own breeding, it became increasingly difficult to pass the animals on. The enclosures, which were too small, and new legal regulations led to the company's bankruptcy in the 1990s.

The community of Wingst took over the zoo and has been redesigning it since 2000 with a support association. The focus is on making the facility child-friendly and on keeping monkeys and predators. In 2007, the zoo was expanded to include a two-hectare wolf and bear forest. The design of the forest is based on the existing trees, so that a natural enclosure was created. The wolves come from the Tierpark Berlin, the bears already lived in Wingst before and could now move to the new enclosure. The old bear enclosure near the gibbon island was rebuilt and was available to the tigers for a short time since Easter 2007. Their old enclosure was also being rebuilt and was actually supposed to house lions, which Wingst Zoo was to receive from Rostock Zoo. However, the tigers did not accept their new home, and so they were put back into their restored old enclosure, and the lions took over the old bear enclosure in July 2007.

In 2010, the zoo's sponsoring association inaugurated a walk-in Liszt monkey enclosure and in 2011 a walk-in kangaroo enclosure. Since 2011, there have also been dingoes at the zoo in Wingst as an extension of the wolf forest. These wild dogs are intended to show that the evolution from wild wolf to domestic dog cannot simply be reversed when dogs become wild animals again. In 2012, a white tiger was acquired.

Other residents of the zoo in Wingst include: Alpacas, guanacos, kangaroos, turtles, snakes, parrots, flamingos, peacocks, white storks, gibbons, capuchin monkeys, ocelots and dwarf otters. In addition, there is a small reptile house. Aquariums have not existed since 2013.