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ZooParc de Beauval
The ZooParc de Beauval (French pronunciation: [zopaʁk də boval]), more commonly called Beauval Zoo or, more simply, Beauval, is a French zoological park located in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire. It features more than 35,000 animals on 40 hectares, which is one of the largest animal collections in France and in Europe. Created in 1980 by Françoise Delord, it is now run by her son, Rodolphe Delord, and managed by his family, which owns most of the capital.
Beauval was often the first zoo to house certain animals in France, which contributed to its reputation and to its development. It was the first zoo in France to present leucistic big cats, such as white tigers and white lions, in the 1990s. Other rare, unique or endangered species housed at the zoo include okapis, tree kangaroos, koalas and giant pandas.
Four greenhouses present birds, great apes, sloths, reptiles, manatees and Australasian animals, while three plains present herbivores of the African savannah (like giraffes, white rhinos and antelopes), African elephants and Asian herbivores (such as Indian rhinos and Malayan tapirs). Other facilities in the park are the Chinese zone called "On China Heights", the African swamp called "The Hippos' Reserve", the sea lion basin presenting "The Sea Lions' Odyssey" and an outdoor theatre presenting a free-flight bird show entitled "Masters of Airs".
As a permanent member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, it joined ex situ conservation by participating in European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), in which it coordinates three programs. It also supports in situ conservation associations working in the field through its dedicated association, Beauval Nature, and has reintroduced several animals in Africa.
The ZooParc de Beauval has three accommodation facilities: an apartment hotel, Les Hameaux de Beauval, and two three-star hotels: Les Jardins de Beauval Balinese inspired and Les Pagodes de Beauval in Chinese style.
With more than 1,600,000 annual visitors since 2019, it is the most visited tourist site of the Centre-Val de Loire region, one of the five most visited zoological institutions in France and the most visited conventional private zoo in the country. In 2019, the ZooParc de Beauval had 600 permanent employees. In 2019, it had a revenue of 66 million euros and a net income of 4.47 million euros.
In the early 1970s, Françoise Lajunias Dite Delord (1940–2021), a former student at the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art and presenter of performances at the Bobino music hall, received as a gift – at the Salon de l'Enfance, with a subscription to a children's newspaper – a pair of African silverbills, a species of African passerine. Shortly after, having acquired a bird cage for them on the Quai de la Mégisserie, she returned there to acquire two grey Zebra finches, then two white. Its collection of birds grew to reach four hundred individuals. In 1980, faced with the impossibility of housing them all in Paris, she moved with her husband, the conjurer Jacques Delord, and their two children, Delphine and Rodolphe, to Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, where she opened a bird park in Beauval, on either side of a small tributary of the Cher, le Traine-Feuilles. Some 1,500 to 2,000 birds are present in the aviaries of Beauval. In 1989, Beauval became a zoological park by welcoming its first mammals, including big cats and primates.
In 1990, the ZooParc welcomed its first lions.
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ZooParc de Beauval
The ZooParc de Beauval (French pronunciation: [zopaʁk də boval]), more commonly called Beauval Zoo or, more simply, Beauval, is a French zoological park located in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire. It features more than 35,000 animals on 40 hectares, which is one of the largest animal collections in France and in Europe. Created in 1980 by Françoise Delord, it is now run by her son, Rodolphe Delord, and managed by his family, which owns most of the capital.
Beauval was often the first zoo to house certain animals in France, which contributed to its reputation and to its development. It was the first zoo in France to present leucistic big cats, such as white tigers and white lions, in the 1990s. Other rare, unique or endangered species housed at the zoo include okapis, tree kangaroos, koalas and giant pandas.
Four greenhouses present birds, great apes, sloths, reptiles, manatees and Australasian animals, while three plains present herbivores of the African savannah (like giraffes, white rhinos and antelopes), African elephants and Asian herbivores (such as Indian rhinos and Malayan tapirs). Other facilities in the park are the Chinese zone called "On China Heights", the African swamp called "The Hippos' Reserve", the sea lion basin presenting "The Sea Lions' Odyssey" and an outdoor theatre presenting a free-flight bird show entitled "Masters of Airs".
As a permanent member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, it joined ex situ conservation by participating in European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), in which it coordinates three programs. It also supports in situ conservation associations working in the field through its dedicated association, Beauval Nature, and has reintroduced several animals in Africa.
The ZooParc de Beauval has three accommodation facilities: an apartment hotel, Les Hameaux de Beauval, and two three-star hotels: Les Jardins de Beauval Balinese inspired and Les Pagodes de Beauval in Chinese style.
With more than 1,600,000 annual visitors since 2019, it is the most visited tourist site of the Centre-Val de Loire region, one of the five most visited zoological institutions in France and the most visited conventional private zoo in the country. In 2019, the ZooParc de Beauval had 600 permanent employees. In 2019, it had a revenue of 66 million euros and a net income of 4.47 million euros.
In the early 1970s, Françoise Lajunias Dite Delord (1940–2021), a former student at the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art and presenter of performances at the Bobino music hall, received as a gift – at the Salon de l'Enfance, with a subscription to a children's newspaper – a pair of African silverbills, a species of African passerine. Shortly after, having acquired a bird cage for them on the Quai de la Mégisserie, she returned there to acquire two grey Zebra finches, then two white. Its collection of birds grew to reach four hundred individuals. In 1980, faced with the impossibility of housing them all in Paris, she moved with her husband, the conjurer Jacques Delord, and their two children, Delphine and Rodolphe, to Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, where she opened a bird park in Beauval, on either side of a small tributary of the Cher, le Traine-Feuilles. Some 1,500 to 2,000 birds are present in the aviaries of Beauval. In 1989, Beauval became a zoological park by welcoming its first mammals, including big cats and primates.
In 1990, the ZooParc welcomed its first lions.
