Wilhelma Zoo

Test alarm at Wilhelma Zoo with safeREACH in use

In order to be prepared in the event of an emergency, a test alert was carried out at Wilhelma in Stuttgart in February 2024. A bear outbreak was simulated in the zoological-botanical garden.

The alert app from safeREACH was also used successfully. With the help of safeREACH, the right people were alerted in just a few seconds and it was possible to start capturing the bear immediately.

Planned but unannounced exercise a complete success

On 29 February 2024, an exciting test alarm took place at Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart to test the efficiency of the alarm and emergency plans in the event of a possible animal outbreak. In this realistic scenario, it was assumed that a spectacled bear had escaped from its enclosure. An employee in a bear costume portrayed the escaped bear to make the exercise as realistic as possible.

The new safeREACH alarm app was used for the first time. Once the unannounced alarm was triggered, all zoo employees were immediately alerted via their smartphones and given detailed instructions on what to do. This made it possible to quickly evacuate and cordon off the affected area. Within a few minutes, a crisis team of experienced keepers and vets was on site and was able to secure the "bear". If it had been a real bear, it would have been anaesthetised with a blowpipe. This was also practised, but without real arrows.

Alerting with safeREACH as a key contribution to success

Visitors to the zoo reacted calmly and calmly to the instructions and showed great understanding for the measure. After just 15 minutes, the test alarm was ended and normal zoo operations could continue.

Thomas Kölpin, Director of Wilhelma, emphasised the importance of such drills in the zoo's press release: "Fortunately, we have never had an emergency. Nevertheless, we have to be prepared - after all, we are responsible for the safety of thousands of visitors and hundreds of employees every day. We are very pleased with how professionally and calmly today's exercise was conducted."

The use of the safeREACH app proved to be extremely efficient and played a key role in ensuring that the exercise ran smoothly and successfully. This also shows how diverse the areas of application for safeREACH are. The alerting software provides essential added value for almost every industry.