18.7.2024 by Anke B
Our Benni is gone. He moved during the last week. The keepers were not allowed to say where, as the new owner did not want this. Many Knut friends got to know Benni during their visits to the zoo and fell in love with the little donkey.
He was usually very nice and endearing towards people, although he sometimes bit, depending on his mood on the day…
Unfortunately, he was not very charming to his wives, not to say he was violent and hurtful, so that he spent his last years alone in a barren enclosure and aroused a lot of pity…
There were repeated attempts to socialise him with his ladies, sometimes even with a muzzle, which he could destroy, with serious consequences for the female donkeys, some of whom were seriously injured. In the end, he was castrated at the age of twenty, had to leave the zoo and was placed in private care, where he can now live with other donkeys again. I wonder why the zoo didn’t try this before?
I will miss Benni very much, but I hope that he will now be much better housed and will no longer be lonely.
Mervi: Dear Anke! Thank you for much for the news. I met Benni many times in Berlin and he was always nice to me. He allowed me to caress him which made me very happy. I hope Benni will be happy in his new home!
Yesterday we saw that the Hinterwälder cattle have conquered Benni’s enclosure all to themselves, which I find remarkable, as they actually had the whole area up to the house at their disposal, but they only stayed in Benni’s former enclosure…
Liebe Anke!
Wir haben Benni in Berlin gesehen. Ich hoffe es geht ihm gut jetzt. Danke für die Geschichte seines Leben im Zoo.
Hugs
Ludmila
Liebe Anke,
liebe Mervi,
ich erinnere mich nicht, dass ihr jemals zu Knuts Zeiten von Benni erzählt habt. Nachdem er sich für die Zucht als sehr “rauher” Liebhaber nicht geeignet hat, war seine Einzelhaltung zwar unumgänglich, aber – wie auch du schon sagtest – die jetzige Lösung bzw. die Kastration wäre auch früher möglich gewesen, um ihn in der Gruppenhaltung zu integrieren.
Aber die Entscheidungen der Zooverantwortlichen sind oftmals schwer zu verstehen….
btw: Anke, ohne deine Hintergrundwissen hätten wir nie mehr etwas von Benni gehört, vielen Dank!
Jetzt hat er es hoffentlich besser in seiner neuen Heimat.
Liebe Grüße
Britta-Gudrun
Hoffen wir, dass Benni jetzt ein besseres Leben hat.
In der Tat sind die Entscheidungen des Zoos nicht
immer ganz nachvollziehbar…
Den guten Wünsche für Benni schließe ich mich gerne an! HOFFENTLICH hat er nun einen guten, besseren Platz bekommen…✊
Liebe Grüße von Eisbärin Kara – Zoo Mulhouse – 18.7.´24
https://flic.kr/p/2q4XKKf
Anori – Zoo Mulhouse – 18.7.´24
https://flic.kr/p/2q4RjeA
https://flic.kr/p/2q4RjG4
Anori & Sesi
https://flic.kr/p/2q4Y5Kk
Thank you very much dear Anke and Mervi.
Best wishes to Benni.