Tilburg Zoo?!

There once was a zoo near the campus of Tilburg University, a fact that not many students will know about. But the zoo was losing money and had to close in the seventies. The land was sold to the municipality who planned to expand the university.

It is now part of the Warande forest, but from 1930 to 1973 there was a zoo near the campus of TiU. Complete with monkeys, lions, elephants and sea lions. You can still find the four pillars of the entry gate at the Bredaseweg.

The zoo was a wedding present from the former owner of Burgers Zoo in Arnhem (Johan Burgers) to his daughter and her husband in Tilburg.  The zoo was a popular attraction. If it was still there now, it would probably have prevented the forced closing of shops on Sundays.

The zoo was almost bombed during the World War II. At that time there were 400 animals and 10.000 birds at the zoo. Lions walked restlessly in their cages.  The hyenas  made heart-rending noises. Three days after the bombing, the elephants still did not eat.  No animals were hit, but many animals eventually died of hunger during the war.

In 1973 the zoo was losing too much money and the municipality wanted to expand the university. The zoo was closed and its property sold. Siberian chipmunks apparently saw this coming and escaped and still live in the forest till this day.

For a map of the zoo in the 1960’s, click here.  You can see some leaflets and pictures below from cubra.

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