Do zoos make sense in the 21st century? The debate is old. And it has already led to some cities rethinking the model of their zoos (just as they have done with the circuses), renouncing to have wild animals in captivity and even the use of that label. With that backdrop, in Villagarcía de Camposa small town of Tierra de Campos (Valladolid) by just 300 neighborsthey have had a peculiar idea: open a new zoo of several hectares.
Of course, there are only cows and oxen.
What happened? That in the province of Valladolid they have just done something less and less common in a Spain (and Europe) in which The debate About animal welfare has been gaining ground: release a zoo. That would be striking in itself, but the new enclosure assures also that it is “unique” in Europe.
In it you will hardly see bears, lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, kangaroos, chimpanzees or any other of the exotic species that urban zoos usually populate. No. The new Valladolid installation is consecrated solely and exclusively to cows, oxen and calves. Only beef Nothing else.
With you, bos taurozos. The enclosure occupies about 17 hectares, is located in Villagarcía de Campos, less than an hour by car from the city of Valladolid, and its name is a presentation card: “Bos Taurozos”, combination of the species Bos Taurus and Mountains Torozosthe environment in which the center is located.
The enclosure either It is presented As a conventional zoo, it is rather a “interpretation center of the Bos Taurus Iberian “,” the animal species that brings together all the beef rates of the peninsula, “their promoters highlight.
Those who visit it will be in fact with copies of more than 30 different races of cattle that inhabit Spain and Portugal, from the CACHENA Galician either Sayaguesa to the Black Andaluza, retinta, Blanca Cacereña, Menorcan either Albera. And that to quote only some of the varieties that inhabit the nearly 17,000 square meters (m2) of Valladolid field that Taurozos occupies.
A walk between great rivers. If their ‘inhabitants’ are not what one would expect to be normally in a zoo, the structure of Bos Taurozos is not usual in this kind of enclosures. The park is divided into a dozen areas baptized with names by Ríos of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Miño, Duero, Ebro, Guadalquivir, Tajo or Guadiana. The reason? ‘Order’ the different races so that visitors have a more precise idea of how they are distributed throughout the territory.
“You can see the cattle of each of the races that live on their banks”, Explain The park, which offers the possibility of “knowing in the first person each of the 32 Bóvidas races in Spain and Portugal, live and first person.”
Who is behind? Two siblingsCarlos del Amo (30 years) and Alicia (33), who make up the third generation of a family linked to the livestock and native of the neighboring town of Villabrágima. In their day to day they are responsible for managing hundreds of cattle In several farms and work with the Alistana Sanabresa and Sayaguesa races, but both had a dream that went further: claiming livestock diversity.
Neither easy nor fast. “We decided to set up this business because we believe there are many breeds that are being lost and people don’t even know that they exist,” Explain Alicia a The Spanish. “Many do not know that we have so many races with very different characteristics.” However, achieving his dream and gathering about thirty varieties in Bos Taurozos has not been a simple task.
The brothers report that to achieve certain specimens, such as the Marshaen, subject to quotas, they have needed to move “A large amount of permits”. In other cases, logistics did not make it easy either. For example, they wanted a Menorcan cowbut the idea that the animal had to spend several days of “suffering” aboard a ship and then travel in a truck frightened them, so they opted for an imaginative solution: implement an embryo in one of their cows.
Cattle and something else. To complete its offer and be more attractive to visitors, Bos Taurozos also incorporates extra activities, points Valladolid Diario. In addition to walking between 32 races of different cows, people can enjoy adventure sports, such as archery, horseback riding or paintball.
The enclosure also incorporates a Bicycle service free and plans to include an leisure and restoration zone with foodtruck. The price for those who want to visit their peculiar zoo? 10 euros adults and eight children. The little ones do not pay.
Images | LOMIG (UNSPLASH) and Bos Taurozos
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