History

Company History - Tierwelt Herberstein Steirischer Landestiergarten GmbH. 

Keeping wild animals has been a centuries-old tradition in Herberstein. While the 17th century saw the first fallow deer bred in Austria, today we are a zoo operated according to scientific principles, home to animals from all over the world, and committed to a wide range of species conservation and nature preservation efforts.

In the mid-17th century, Johann Maximilian I, Baron of Herberstein, realized that the steep slopes were unsuitable for agriculture. However, they were ideal for raising wildlife. So he had fallow deer brought in from Italy and introduced them here—thus laying the foundation for today’s wildlife park.

In 1888, the zoo—which until then had been confined to the steep slopes of the Feistritz Gorge—was expanded to include an adjacent wooded area, and its animal population was simultaneously increased with the addition of native wildlife species.

It was not until the late 1960s that the private park was first opened to the public. To make the park more attractive to visitors, “exotic” animals were added to the collection for the first time. The world’s first prey simulator for cheetahs, which Prof. König (then director of the Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research in Vienna) designed in collaboration with the park’s animal keepers, also dates from this period.

The next significant event took place on October 1, 2006. On that date, the nonprofit “Steirischer Landestiergarten GmbH” (a wholly owned subsidiary of the State of Styria) was founded. In 2022, the GmbH became a subsidiary of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, which is also owned by the State of Styria.

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