Wroclaw Zoo

The Breslau Zoo was established in 1863, initiated by the local community in Breslau. 9 hectares of land by the Oder River was designated for the construction of the zoo by the city authorities, and on July 10, 1865, the zoo had its grand opening ceremony complete with a fireworks display and military orchestra. The zoo had 452 animals representing 50 species, including wolves, monkeys, bears, big cats, and more. In its first year of operation, the zoo was visited by around 67,000 people.

Despite the limited variety of animals, the zoo was very popular among the residents of Breslau. The first elephant, an African elephant named Theodor, was acquired in 1873 from the London Zoo and quickly became one of the main attractions of the zoo. Over the years, the zoo acquired other animals such as an anteater, eared seals, penguins, a chimpanzee named Moritz, and a gorilla named Pussy who arrived in 1897 from Liverpool. To this day, there is a statue dedicated to Pussy in the Wrocław Zoo.

One of the zoo's greatest breeding successes was the birth of the first Malayan tapir in the world, and during the Interwar period, a hippopotamus named Anton. The zoo also had Muschi, the only Amazonian manatee in Europe, which lived for nine years until it died in the winter of 1945.

After World War I, the zoo was forced to close due to economic difficulties, and the animals were transferred to other zoos in Germany such as Berlin, Leipzig, and Cologne. The former zoo area was transformed into a large park. The zoo reopened in 1927 and continued to operate until 1945. During the siege of Festung Breslau, most of the animals were killed, and the remaining ones were sent to other zoos in Polish cities including Poznań, Kraków, and Łódź.

The Wrocław Zoo in Poland was officially opened in 1948, following the devastation of the Second World War. Zoologist Stanisław Kulczyński from the Wrocław University of Technology was a key player in the zoo's rebuilding, and Karol Łukaszewicz, who previously worked at the Kraków Zoo, was appointed as the first Polish director. Upon its opening, the zoo possessed 72 species of animals, including wolves, bears, wild boars, baboons, camels, bisons, parrots, and a South American tapir, and it was visited by 365,000 people in its first year. In the following years, the zoo was expanded by 15 hectares, allowing for an increase in the number of animals on exhibit.

In 1997, the zoo was nearly destroyed by a flood from the nearby Oder River. In the latter half of the 20th century, the zoo became a great success, largely due to the popular TV show "With A Camera Among Animals" hosted by Hanna and Antoni Gucwiński. The show ran for over three decades and helped turn the Wrocław Zoo into the most popular zoo in Poland.

In 2006, the zoo underwent extensive investments under the new director Radosław Ratajszczak, who previously worked at the Poznań Zoo. New pavilions and enclosures were built, including those for rhinoceroses and lynxes, as well as the Seal Centre and the Odrarium building. The most successful investment was the construction of Africarium, an oceanarium showcasing the fauna of Africa, which opened in 2014. The building houses species such as rays, sandbar sharks, Nile crocodiles, hippopotamuses, manatees, and African grey hornbills. This investment attracted even more visitors and solidified the Wrocław Zoo as the most frequently visited zoo in Poland, with an annual number of visitors of around 2 million.