This is what happens when children are lost at Zurich Zoo

Zurich Zoo

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At Zurich Zoo, parents regularly miss their children, says Zoo Director Severin Dressen.

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Zurich Zoo

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Animal parents must also always be vigilant so that they do not suddenly lose sight of their offspring.

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Zurich Zoo

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According to Dressen, the zoo has a “well-functioning internal emergency system” so that lost children can reappear quickly.

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«He was just here. I just wrote a very brief message to my wife. And when I look up again from the mobile phone, my six-year-old son Dominik has disappeared. I’m standing on the Australian enclosure – surrounded by emus and kangaroos. But I can no longer see Dominik. A slight panic flares up in me. Where is he? Hopefully nothing happened to him. What am I doing? “

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This situation may sound familiar to some readers. Anyone who has children has certainly lost them at some point. These moments are always difficult – for the (grand) parents, but also for the places where it happens. Here at the zoo, parents regularly miss children. We don’t keep records, but on a busy weekend at least one child is likely to be lost – and found again. This is ensured, among other things, by the zoo’s well-functioning internal emergency system. So also on this Easter Monday.

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Dominik’s father lost sight of his son. After searching unsuccessfully for a few minutes, he did exactly the right thing. He sought help and spoke to a zoo employee at one of our take-away stands. The employee recorded all the important data: name, age, hairstyle, clothing (white sneakers, gray jeans, Barcelona jersey with no. 10 “Messi”) and the father’s mobile phone number. She passed this data on to the so-called daily chief. This is a member of the cadre or management who is on duty that day. It was me on Easter Monday. As head of the day, I then entered the information into a system that automatically forwards a message to the telephones of all employees. So everyone – gardeners, cleaning staff, waiters or zookeepers – knows which child to look out for. At the same time, I also informed the cash register. The employees then monitor the exits so that the child they are looking for – in this case Dominik – cannot leave the zoo unnoticed.

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Everything went very quickly on Easter Monday, and after a few minutes the call came that Dominik had been found. However, at the other end of the zoo – in front of the Masoala rainforest. Obviously Dominik walked well and wanted to see the rest of the zoo as well.

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Finding it back is not always that quick. Once a girl made fun of hiding specifically from the searching parents and zoo employees. It took hours until we finally found her by chance behind a bush – proud of how long she had kept up the game of hide-and-seek …

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Whether after minutes or hours – in the end what my grandmother always told me counts: “Nothing gets lost in a good household.” And especially not in the zoo.

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