Life-long career with animals, Dr. Rostislaw Shilo

February 7, 2009 at 6:48 pm · Filed under animal studies, zoo and tagged: endangered species, russia, zoo

Agnes Meyer-Brandis and Mireia C. Saladrigues study notes from the year 1981«s annular eclipse animal behavior with the Zoo director Rostislaw Shilo.

Our hosts  in Novosibirsk deserve some lines dedicated to their work in the biggest and one of the most popular Zoo Parks in Russia. The director of the Zoo, Rostislaw Shilo, has worked in the Zoo since 1960`s, first as a veterinarian and later, since 1968 as a director. His wife, Olga Shilo works as a scientific director of the Zoo. Rostislaw was born in Iman, Primorsky Krai to family of biologist and hunter and all the children have chosen their carreers somehow related with the nature. His brother Dmitry is cynologist, Vladimir the head of the biostation at the Institute of Taxonomy and Ecology of Animals of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and his sister Svetlana worked as well in the Zoo as a zootechnician.

Agnes Meyer-Brandis and Alexandra Deribas organising the Moon Goose transport in the Novosibirsk Zoo with Rostislaw Shilo.

Shilo holds numerous medals of honour from his achievements in military forces and in area of culture. In 1999 he was titled as a “Man of the Year” and in 2003 he was awarded with a Medal “For Contribution to Heritage of the People of Russia”. Among his other multiple activities he also has acted as a protagonist in documentaries about the life of wild and zoo animals, such as “Restless Job” (1978), and movies like “In the tundra” and “They Must Live”.  He is also an active and colorful politician in Siberia Parliament, influencing in environmental issues in that role, too.

He managed to relocate the Zoo from the tiny and old installations, occupying just 0,84 hectareas and  situtated in the centre of industrial Novosibirsk, to the outskirts of the town. In 1993  the Zoo was moved to  a vast pine forrest occupying an area of 53 hectareas and has now 11000 specimens of 634 species. Over 120 of the species are considered to be rare and endangered and are listed in the international Red Book, and the staff participates in 47 international European Endangered Species Programmes, specialising in cats and weasels.  As a consequence of correspondency, trips within the country and abroad and animal exchanges the Zoo has managed to collect of the richest and unique collections of Russia. The Zoo has gained its actual features little by little. The symbol of the Zoo, featured in it´s logo, is the snow leopard.
Behind the publicly open Zoo installations the organisation carries out educational and scientific activities, related with preservation and reproduction of rare and endangered animals in captivity.

Novosibirsk Zoo

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