nouveautée tiergarten schönbrunn

[Bombyx]

http://www.zoovienna.at/e/index.html

The recently completed Rhino Park was inaugurated on 22 March. About 600 guests attended – including more than a dozen international zoo directors as well as political, administrative, and business VIPs. Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach officially accepted the two greater Indian rhinos as a state present from the Kingdom of Nepal on behalf of the Republic of Austria. Crown prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, the Crown princess and foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey represented Nepal. Gorbach praised the zoo’s initiative, the personal effort made by director Helmut Pechlaner, and thanked the Kingdom of Nepal for the generous gift: “Austria truly appreciates this gift!”

The zoo acknowledged Nepal and her gift to Austria by installing Buddhist prayer flags that fluttered in the wind above the heads of the guests at the opening. Flags fluttering in the wind are taken as a sign that evil spirits and demons have been held at bay and prayers carried to heaven. The green flags represent the realm of beasts, the white ones the realm of the Gods, yellow the world of human beings, red the realm of hungry spirits, blue the domain of the fighting titans.