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Now the children come: the offspring of ‘Elephant, Tiger & Co’ from Leipzig Zoo
Leipzig.Hunger for love in fur seals, bullying in monkeys, chubby cheeks in leopard, offspring among giraffes – every Friday evening Elephant, Tiger & Co. reports from Leipzig Zoo. On its 20th birthday next year, the hit MDR documentary series is now having a baby: the “Elevant, Tiger & Kids” subsection. ETC’s offspring is aimed at the younger generation of viewers.
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Student training at Leipzig Zoo
Filming began on Monday. The focus is on Stella, Kalid, Laura, Jakob, Inga and Nick – children and young adults 12-15 years old. The six, who came from all over Germany, were searched and found via social media and other channels of the project. They do an internship at Leipzig Zoo, clean the stables, distribute food, make papier-mâché figures for animal activities or let your four-legged friends do small tasks, like climbing goats on stones at the animal nursery. The camera accompanies them.
Jacob, Inga, Laura, Nick, Clyde and Stella (from left) in the African savannah.
© Source: MDR / Cine Impulse
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This week the three girls and the three boys will have a first assignment, in June and October they’ll be back again for one week each. They are exempt from school. Young people also live with supervisors in a kind of flat ration, currently in a hostel in Blagwitz. There they barbecue together, some get acquainted with Leipzig for the first time – these scenes should also be reflected in the documentary series.
Nick from Dresden wants to be a zoo keeper
The only Saxon on the team is 15-year-old Nick from Dresden. He takes care of two rabbits at home and already has a desire to become a zoo keeper one day. He knows Leipzig Zoo from previous visits by his grandmother, with whom he also saw ETC. The man from Dresden said: “I am amazed that we are allowed in the animals and that they are not afraid.” What’s unusual is that the camera and microphone are there all the time and it records everything you say. “But you get used to it,” Nick says.
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Nick from Dresden feeds rabbits.
© Source: Andre Kempner
Cuddling on chicks
Stella, 15, from Magdeburger Börde has a great relationship with the animals in the house. Her family owns a lot of animals: dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, mules, chickens and piglets. The schoolgirl gets up at about 5:30 or 6 on the weekends to feed the animals and clear the stables. During her internship at the zoo, she deals with animals that she does not know from home. Her father and older brother are veterinarians, and Stella also wants to study veterinary medicine later. She knows Leipzig Zoo well, as well as most other zoos in Germany. Stella knows that being an animal keeper requires physical effort and has nothing to do with cuddling. However, she is happy that she is able to give the chicks in the animal nursery a little petting.
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“You can see who has a talent as a zookeeper,” says Janet Bambor, zoo keeper at Leipzig Zoo and head of the South America region. The fact that apprentices come to the zoo is not unusual, and there is also no shortage of applicants for vocational training. But six apprentices at once is something special.
After the children comes the veterinarian Dr. Mertens.
Elefant, Tiger & Kids was created in collaboration with the editors of Elefant, Tiger & Co. The twelve episodes, each of 24 minutes, will be broadcast on Kika in the first quarter of 2023. Upon completion of “Kids” filming at the zoo, the following will follow: Season 8 will be filmed, “Tierärztin Dr. Mertens” in Leipzig from the beginning of May to the end of November. But for now, the actors are working at other locations in Leipzig in the city and will come to the zoo only later.