Ostrich Killed at Basel Zoo
On 26 June 2026, an ostrich fell into the hippopotamus pool and was killed. According to the zoo, she may have been chased by a zebra. The public was not informed until 24 days later.
Yet this was not the first fatal incident in this enclosure: in 2004, a zebra that fell into the same pool was also killed by the hippopotamuses.
The zoo claims that “zero risk” does not exist and is not planning to take any action. But captivity cannot be compared to the wild. In a zoo, animals cannot choose either the animals with whom they are confined or the space in which they are kept. Nor can they move away when tensions arise or escape such “accidents”. The zoo controls these conditions and therefore has a duty to prevent foreseeable harm.
Moreover, neither the common ostrich nor Grant’s zebra is classified as threatened with extinction. What conservation purpose, then, is served by keeping them together under conditions that may prove fatal?
Other forms of education are possible. In Buenos Aires, the former zoo has been transformed into an ecopark. Basel could follow this example by creating an immersive savannah experience using images, sounds, scents and live connections with genuine conservation projects.
Raising awareness of nature does not require confining animals—or exposing them to potentially fatal risks.
