Delegation of the Perm Zoo Was the First One to Visit Amneville

From April 22-24, 2013, associates of the Perm Zoo – Lyudmila Kardashova, Director, Elena Burdina, Academic Secretary, and Irina Komkova, Chief Zoologist of the Department of Beasts of Rapine and Apes, – visited Amnéville, France, a twin city of Perm. That journey turned out to be the first official visit of the Perm delegation after the partnership relations had been renewed in autumn 2012.

‘The major target of the trip was the familiarity with the work of the local zoo, one of the largest ones in Europe,’ told Elena BURDINA. ‘The project for territory planning for the new Perm Zoo, which was suggested by the Spanish company “AMUSEMENT LOGICS S.L.” in 2008, is similar to the infrastructure of the Amnéville’s Zoo in many details. First of all, we wanted to get experiences in managing such a huge facility. Besides, we considered a significant extension of the area after the transformation of the zoo and paid a special attention to the handling of such animals like anthropoids: We do hope that the Perm residents will be able to personally see them in the nearest future.’

Apart from the professional constituent of the visit, the delegation of the Perm Zoo met representatives of the Administration of the City of Amnéville presided by the Mayor Doris Belloni as well as organisations maintaining friendly ties to Russia. The guests were also offered an interesting cultural programme, which included the Pompidou Centre in Metz.

This is worth remembering that first contacts between Amnéville and Perm were established in the 1990s. The Protocol of the Twin City Act Perm-Amnéville was signed by Jean Kiffer, Mayor of Amneville, and Vladimir Fil, Head of the Perm Administration, on February 17, 1992. In the period 1992-1999, there had been an artistic and music exchange between Perm and Lotharingia (including Metz). Since 2012, active twin city relations between Perm and Amnéville have been renewed.