The Berlin Zoo reopened its doors on Christmas Eve for the first time after being closed for around five weeks due to a case of bird flu.

On this occasion, Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) paid a visit to the animals and brought a Christmas tree for the elephants. However, the number of visitors remained manageable. Visitors must follow certain measures. For example, the zoo has laid out special mats with disinfectant at the entrance that guests have to walk or drive over.

In addition, no birds may be touched on the way to and in the zoo. This is to protect the population of zoo birds and prevent the H5N1 virus from spreading.

The bird affected by this virus, a hammerhead, died on November 13, according to the zoo. After laboratory confirmation of avian influenza, the zoo was evacuated on November 18. According to the zoo, all other test results for the other 1,200 birds have been negative since then.

Exemption for birds in the zoo

In the coming days, according to the Mitte district office, the veterinary supervision will probably also issue an exemption permit so that all birds in the zoo can stay alive. Only the birds that were in direct contact with the dead hammer head must remain in the stable. They are scheduled to be tested again in the first week of January.

The so-called avian influenza is known as bird flu or avian influenza. The virus behind it is called H5N1. So far, it has only been linked to human infections in rare individual cases. However, it can spread easily in bird populations. For the animals it is a mortal danger.