The Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park

The Bois-de-la-Bâtie is much loved for its animal park covering approximately 2.5 hectares, open free of charge every day. Dogs are prohibited.

Familiarising the population with the region’s wildlife

The Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park enables visitors to observe numerous species of regional wildlife or farm animals all year round. The park is particularly popular with families in spring time, when the park’s residents give birth to a number of babies. Several picture galleries of these new arrivals can be consulted at the bottom of the page.

Conservation of endangered species

The Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park participates in the conservation projects for endangered species conducted by the ProSpecieRara foundation. It is home to old, endangered breeds of Swiss animals which are part of our heritage:

• peacock goat;
• mirror sheep;
• Hinterwald cattle.

Index of the park’s résidents

The different enclosures offer the public the chance to observe almost 300 specimens of native animals on an estate covering around 2.5 hectares. In the index displayed below, you can find a brief presentation of the animals living in the park:

• consult the index of animals in the Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park.

History of the animal park

The current Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park was created at the initiative of a gardener called Maréchal who, in 1945, began taking in wounded animals from around the region and housing them in temporary shelters. Seeing the enthusiastic reaction of its inhabitants, the City of Geneva created an animal park in 1982 with a view to familiarising city-dwellers with local wildlife.