Abeba, Prague Zoo's New Mascot

Aug. 13, 2003 — One year after losing over one hundred animals in the catastrophic floods that overwhelmed Prague, the Czech capital's zoo has nominated a baby female seal as its new mascot and symbol of revival.

Abeba, as she is known, got star treatment on Sunday with a band and champagne to celebrate her recent birth, and her picture has been splashed about in the country's press.

Her birth on June 4 came as a complete surprise to zoo staff. Her father, known as Gaston, was the previous mascot.

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Unknown to zoo staff, Gaston had sired Abeba just before being dragged away by floodwaters on Aug. 13, 2002, when the Vltava River's rushing waters rose to historic highs and beat the defenses built around the zoo.

Gaston drifted along the Vltava and then the Elbe for as many as six days. But a dedicated rescue team never managed to catch up with him. He was finally rescued in Wittenberg, central Germany, only to die from exhaustion and internal injuries shortly afterwards.

Ten months later, on June 4, the staff at the Prague Zoo was surprised when Gaston's female companion, Bara, gave birth to Abeba.

"Female [seals] are typically plump, that's why nobody ever knows they're pregnant until they finally give birth," said Michaeala Voldrichova, who supervises seals and sea lions at the zoo.

Located deep in thick vegetation along the shores of the Vltava River, Prague Zoo went through a nightmare when floodwaters rose to record highs in mid-August 2002.

"We managed to save as many as 1,000 animals in an unprecedented rescue operation," zoo director Petr Fejk recalls.

Yet he remains bitter over the loss of another 135 animals, including a dozen mammals, which died of drowning or sheer stress in the following weeks.

Kadir the elephant, hippos Lentilka and Barborka and Pong the gorilla, in particular, are fondly remembered.

Structural damage at the zoo was estimated at some 7.8 million euros ($8.8 million.)

Abeba's nomination as the new mascot coincides with a comprehensive re-organization of the zoo.

"By the end of the year, the last vestiges of the flood will have disappeared," Fejk said during a stroll across the park.

Next year the lower area of the zoo, by the Vltava River, will have changed beyond recognition. "All those animals that are difficult to transfer will be moved higher up in order to ward off any risks," the zoo director added.

This means that monkeys and water birds will relocate where Kadir the elephant found himself overtaken by floodwaters within four-meter (14-foot) concrete walls.

The young visitors' all-time favorite at the zoo, 36-year-old Kadir was a star in his own right as he had held a number of cameo roles in films.

How high Abeba's own star will rise is too early to say. But she certainly stands as an apt symbol for the ongoing revival at Prague Zoo.