Stop the cars! Well known for its free-roaming animals and car travel, the Yvelines animal park is undergoing a small revolution. Visitors will travel by eco-responsible shuttle from September 2023 to preserve animals and nature.
The Zoo Safari de Thoiry (Yvelines), founded in 1968, is undergoing a small revolution. “For our animals and for nature, we must rethink our emissions”, underlines the director of the zoo, Christelle Bercheny, at the Parisian. “The zoo would like to welcome more and more visitors, but the team wants to reduce the number of thermal vehicles. »
“The polluting particles also fall on the plants, which are then consumed by the animals”, underlines a teacher from the Animal Poison Center, attached to the National Veterinary School of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), interviewed by Le Parisien.
Objective: one million admissions in 2028
The zoo always bustling, the roads in the park are always congested. “Currently, it’s a bit like the Paris ring road, admits the manager. We imagine how to return to a smooth traffic experience, reducing the number of cars and therefore pollution. In 2022, 650,000 visitors rode through the paths of the park. A figure up by 90,000 visitors compared to 2019, that is to say compared to the period before Covid. The objective of the park is, in the long term, to reach one million admissions per year around 2028.
Other zoos around the world have already introduced “green” modes of transport. The Maryland Zoo, located in the United States, has been using zero-emission shuttles since 2021. And in Canada, Parc Safari d’Hemmingford acquired electric bush trucks in June 2022.