After the first successful transport of four of the
zoo”s Przewalski”s
horses to Mongolia in June last year, Prague Zoo is preparing to transport another group of horses
this month. Four mares, Anežka, Greta, Xara and Spela, have been moved to the zoo”s facility in
Dolní Dobřejov station, where they are getting
ready
for their long-haul flight July 16.

For the transport, the Army will
utilize airplane CASA C-295M –
incidentally
the same
model whose purchase was overseen by former defense Minister Vlasta Parkanová, who
now faces
charges and a national scandal for approving
the overpriced deal.

On July 17, the airplane is
expected to land at an
unfortified airport
in Bulgan,
Mongolia.
The following day, the horses will be released in an acclimatization game preserve
in Gobi B, a strictly
protected wildlife preserve in the Gobi Desert.

The cooperation of Prague Zoo with Mongolia dates to the
1950s and
“60s, when the zoo helped save the nearly extinct horses by founding a captive
breeding program aimed at reintroducing them into the wild. Today, five
horses live in the zoo while an additional 20 are kept at Dolní Dobřejov. The plan is to
keep sending horses back to their original homeland. According
to Prague
Zoo Director Miroslav Bobek, the zoo can now also
restore the breeding and already boasts pregnant mares.

The first transport in
June 2011 proved a huge success, although
the flight did not transpire as smoothly as zookeepers had
envisioned. One of the mares collapsed, compelling the pilot to make an
emergency landing.
In the end, however, all four Przewalski”s
horses landed
safely
in Mongolia.
Their acclimatization was
surprisingly fast, Bobek said.

“Two mares already gave birth to
two foals
just one year after the transport.
This is great,
especially
if you understand how difficult the transport
is.”

“It is better than we
hoped,” he added.  

Bobek also said the transport
would have
been difficult to realize without the aid of the
Czech Army,
which incorporated the opportunity into its pilot training program.

“Of course,
we pay
the fuel and
fees,” Bobek said. “This was the only
possible way
for us to realize
the transport,
because
the commercial
flight would be much more expansive.”

The zoo has already
pinpointed two locations in Mongolia where the
horses historically belong. “We have one dream,”
Bobek said.
“The best location for the Przewalski”s
horses is close to Mongolia“s borders with China.”

Twenty years ago, when
the venues for reintroduction were chosen, the strained political situation did not allow
zookeepers to target this specific site. Bobek says he still
believes it will one day be possible to return the horses there, although he admits for
now it is now just a dream.  

http://www.praguepost.com