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Farewell to Toni: The Berlin Hippo is moving to France!
The pygmy hippopotamus Toni leaves the Berlin Zoo for Mulhouse. Farewell week planned for August 18th to 24th, 2025.
Farewell to Toni: The Berlin Hippo is moving to France!
The cute pygmy hippopotamus Toni will soon be leaving the Berlin Zoo and moving to the French zoo in Mulhouse. Toni, born on June 3, 2022, has become a real social media star in recent months. Videos of her bubbly personality went viral, leading to a rise in the zoo's Instagram followers from 125,000 to an impressive 254,000. The Berlin Zoo will usher in a special farewell week on August 24, 2025, the last day of Toni's visit.
With the move, Toni is being relocated on the recommendation of the European Endangered Species Program (EEP). These programs aim to conserve endangered species and promote their genetic diversity in human care. According to the information from VDZ Animals are given to other zoos after careful reproductive planning in order to avoid inbreeding.
Special farewell week at the Berlin Zoo
To say goodbye to Toni, zoo officials have created a special “Toni Time” that takes place daily at 1:30 p.m. in the indoor enclosure at Hippo Bay. During this time, depending on her mood, Toni is either showered with jets of water or pampered with an extra portion of peanuts. This is intended to be a kind of farewell gift for Toni's many fans, who will have the opportunity to take personal farewell photos with the pygmy hippopotamus.
Preparation for the move began several weeks beforehand with daily “crate training”. Toni now also spends afternoons away from her mother Debbie, as it is common for pygmy hippos to change habitat around the age of one. The zoo managers hope that Toni will provide offspring in Mulhouse in the future.
The value of conservation breeding programs
Pygmy hippos are critically endangered, with fewer than 2,500 left in the wild in West Africa. The European demand for such breeding programs is therefore essential for the preservation of the species. According to stern.de The zoos in Europe are coordinated in a network that ensures the preservation and care of endangered animal species.
In this way, Berlin Zoo not only makes a contribution to animal care, but also plays an important role in global nature conservation. The coming weeks will be emotional for Toni and her fans; The move to Mulhouse could be an important step for their species.
For everyone who would like to say farewell to Toni, there is still some time until August 24, 2025, when the veil falls over her farewell and a new chapter begins for the little hippo.