The story
On 25 February 1905 the Verein Zoologischer Garten München e.V. (transl. Society of the Zoological Garden of Munich) was founded and the Hellabrunn area was chosen as the location for the zoo. The zoo was designed by architect Emanuel von Seidl, and opened to the public on 1 August 1911.
In 1922, the zoo was closed due to the inflation in Germany. It was re-opened on 23 May 1928. It became the first Geo-Zoo in the world (animals were shown and kept with other animals of the same geographic region). It also engaged in controversial back-breeding to "recreate" extinct animals like Heck cattle (to mimic the Aurochs) and the Tarpan.
Lutz Heck was a renowned zoologist in Nazi Germany, his brother Heinz Heck was director of Hellabrunn Zoo at the time. During World War II, the zoo sustained extensive damage due to strategic bombing by the Allies of World War II, but the zoo was able to reopen in May 1945.
In 1970, a badly needed plan for the renovation of the zoo was drawn up.
Today
In 2024, Hellabrunn housed "several thousand animals" across 500 different species. The Zoo was previously home to 18,943 animals in 2014.
The Tierpark Hellabrunn has breeding, reintroduction and conservation projects.
Over 1.8 million people visited Hellabrunn in 2024.
As the groundwater level here is rather high and the water is of very good quality, the zoo can cover its needs for freshwater by using its own wells.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hellabrunn Zoo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5