Photo : Boldair / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Parc Animalier d'Auvergne
The Parc Animalier d'Auvergne is at Ardes, in the Cézallier (Puy-de-Dôme), about three-quarters of an hour from Clermont-Ferrand and a few minutes from the A75 motorway, near Issoire. It extends over several dozen hectares of natural relief and is visited on foot, along a route lined with footbridges and enclosures.
It houses a few hundred animals of about sixty to seventy species, mostly rare or threatened: snow leopards, red pandas, tigers, Amur leopards, takins, Rothschild's giraffes, Hartmann's zebras, as well as lemurs and sika deer. The park has recently built an enclosure for Thorold's deer, a new giraffe footbridge and a virtual reality experience at the conservation centre.
Involved in European breeding programmes and supporting conservation actions through an endowment fund, it received in 2023 two trophies for its environmental commitments. A little train climbs the hill, and the park offers family safaris and courses during the holidays.
