Schmiding Zoo is located in the municipality of Krenglbach in Upper Austria, around ten kilometers north of Wels. It developed from Austria’s largest bird park, Vogelpark Schmiding, opened in 1982.
Today the zoo presents the fauna of different regions of the world on an area of 13 hectares. Along the 4 km long tour, for example, the visitor encounters giraffes, monkeys, white rhinos, crocodiles, red pandas, Austria’s only gorillas, Siberian tigers, sloths and exotic birds.
The zoo, the aquazoo and the arthropod zoo were built on the site of Schmiding Castle, which was first mentioned in 1100.
In addition to numerous outdoor enclosures, the zoo has the largest open-air raptor aviary (25,000 m³) in the world, as well as an underground tiger outdoor enclosure and an Africa house in which Varis can move freely.
The habitat of the gorilla bachelor group in the Schmiding Zoo (Gorilla-Bai) is divided into an outdoor area, an indoor area and a sleeping area. The interior is tropical air conditioned. The gorillas can choose their whereabouts depending on the weather.
Schmiding Zoo participates in conservation breeding programs, so in 2007 there were young tigers. In 2012, a rhinoceros was born in Austria for the first time. Despite initial difficulties, it survived. This breeding success could be repeated two years later.