Schönbrunn Zoo Director Faces Court Over Weapons

Tiergarten Schönbrunn continues to make headlines: first the farce over the naming of animals, abolished at one point, then permitted again.

Now the daily newspaper «Heute» reports that the director of Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck, applied to the authorities in March 2021 for a firearms permit and a special licence to carry a pump-action shotgun, known in law as a slide-action repeating rifle.

The passionate hobby hunter sought, in addition to a large-calibre repeating shotgun, a .44 Magnum for the defence of the zoo. He justified his request “with the risk of deliberate animal liberation by animal rights activists.” The police refused, stating: “The defence against dangerous attacks is fundamentally the responsibility of the security authorities and the security executive.”

“Police lack sufficient knowledge”

It was precisely at this point that Hering-Hagenbeck intervened in his statement before the administrative court (the hearing took place on 30 June; a decision is still pending) and criticised — in what amounts to a tasteless comparison — what he evidently considered the excessively long “response time of the police during the 2020 terrorist attack.” The fact that the Wega had shot the attacker just nine minutes after the emergency call was, of course, recognised worldwide.

In a statement to «Heute» the zoo director — who regularly accepts private invitations to go hobby hunting for wild boar — goes even further, claiming that the police could neither arrive on the scene as quickly nor navigate the zoo grounds as well as the senior staff. Hering-Hagenbeck: “The police also lack the zoological knowledge to assess when a dangerous animal can still be deterred and when it must be killed swiftly.”

You can help all animals and our planet through compassion. Choose mercy on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan.