@gorst, thanks for all the info and your perspective on a potential zoo relocation to Ada Ciganlija (the area is part the living space of a transient Gypsy community). What surprises me is that for the upteenth time argument is raging over its relocation which is a self-evident need to come away from the cramped conditions at Kalemegdan site. Various alternatives have been proposed over the last 15 years+, yet it is high time a final solution is reached very soon (and a budget to build the new zoo). What do you think should be done?
The need to relocate the zoo from Kalemegdan is, as you said, self-evident. The problem is how to do it. Now nobody in Serbia has the expertise to organize relocation, even the (former) mayor Šapić admits that. The right way to do it is to hire some professional organization/company from the beginning, make several proposals for the new location, look at the pros and cons of each location, size, accessibility, other factors... I know it might take some time to make a decision, but moving a zoo is not something you do every year. For example, Ada Ciganlija has more open space. There is a golf course near the proposed location. Including that area the zoo could be close to 30 hectares - maybe I'm being "greedy" but I really think 14 hectares is small for a "new" zoo in a city of (officially) 1.6 million. All that, the (former) mayor's proposal (to me) looks like a classic pre-election promise made for publicity. No other institution at the city or republic level commented or had anything to say about the proposal. Nothing has been heard about the proposal since the election. The zoo is renovating the old enclosures (elephants) and building new ones – albeit small in size – so no one seems to have told them anything. I would like to see the Belgrade Zoo in a new location in my lifetime , but it should be really better, not some hasty solution.
I just had a look on google earth and the elephant area is awfully small, no more then 500 m2. Even if you add the neighboring camel paddock, its only around 700 m2. This is much too small, I can‘t believe that the EEP will give them new elephants…. Or are they adding more space to the elephant enclosure (from the antilope/ zebra area)? I really hope so but somehow I have a hard time believing that they are making significant (and therefore costly) changes to the elephant area…
