Emmen Zoo

Expansion and relocation: The 'Es'
Zoo Emmen
The residence of the Penguins

Part of the former walking bridge between the old and new sections of Zoo Emmen
The zoo currently has an area of 13 hectares at its location in the center of Emmen, but faced its limits in the 1990s; there was no more room for expansion. Therefore, the zoo began an expansion of six hectares (including a new parking lot) on the outskirts of Emmen at the Noordbargeres, which is called the Es, in 1998. The two parts of the park were connected by a large walking bridge over the Hondsrugweg. The first to be relocated here were the Humboldt penguins. They now inhabit a very large enclosure that visitors can walk through. Later, the guanacos and pudus were moved there and a large covered play area for children, called Speelexpeditie Yucatán (formerly known as Wallanganda until 2007), was created. Meanwhile, a new prairie dog enclosure and an aviary for ravens and beard owls were built in the old section, but this turned out to be far too little to retain visitors (see further).

In 2007, plans were announced that the zoo would leave the center of Emmen to relocate entirely to the Es, where an area of 40 hectares would become available; almost three times larger than the current park. Together with a theater yet to be built, this zoo was set to form a new amusement park.[2] At the end of 2007, it was announced that the relocation must be completed by 2014 at the latest.[3] Due to financial problems, this was postponed until 2016. The intention is for new species to also be introduced at the Es, such as Axis deer, Broad-snouted caimans, Camels, Onagers, Harbor seals, and polar bears, and lions would also return there.[4] However, in early 2011 it was decided to keep the lions at the old location, at the site of the former Eden's Garden.

In December 2008, the Emmen city council approved the redevelopment of the central area of Emmen.[5] The costs of the mega project, including the relocation of the zoo, were estimated at a minimum of 489 million euros. The costs for the new zoo were estimated to be 190 million, of which 65 million would come from the sale of the old site to the municipality of Emmen. In May 2010, the Minister of VROM, Huizinga, allocated 8.5 million euros for the relocation of the Zoo.[6] In December 2010, consultancy firm Twynstra Gudde calculated that the relocation to the Es would cost too much money, necessitating adjustments to the plans.

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