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This is a continuation of a long story. In short: we haven’t seen Fay since the beginning of the year, and a month ago the staff said she had a minor injury and was coming out only rarely.

We visited Opel Zoo today. It was immediately obvious, both by sight and by sound, that construction was underway in one corner of the zoo. The posters say that rhinos will be living there in early 2028. That’s far from the manuls. But the zoo lies in a valley between two hills; the construction is on one slope, while the manuls live on the opposite slope. Formally, as the crow flies, the distance is great, but in practice there is a clear line of sight between them, and the manuls can hear the sounds of construction.

The small trees in the manuls’ enclosure were trimmed, and there is now more open space. One of the shelters was also moved from the large enclosure to the small one. Before, there were 4 shelters in the large enclosure and 1 in the small one. Now there are 3 and 2. Though for some reason the shelter was placed exactly where the manuls sometimes use the toilet. But Batu sometimes sits on the roof of that shelter, apparently approving of the rearrangement.

At the neighbor’s enclosure, the European wildcat’s, a small area was fenced off with netting (about 2*3 meters). Maybe someone will be brought there temporarily during the breeding season (dreamily...)

Batu was active all day (with breaks for sleep, of course)

Batu in Opel Zoo, July 27, 2026

Batu yawning

We had long planned to visit the Helsinki Zoo again. The zoo itself is very popular, and there are lots of videos of walks through it, so I won’t describe it in detail. I can only sincerely recommend visiting it; it’s really great. The only drawback I can think of is the price: 29 for adults / 20 for children.

In the past, the zoo was on an island all by itself; the only way to it was a bridge from another island, and from there another bridge led into the city. From the central market there used to be a cute ferry, which added an extra sense of adventure to the island visit. But now they’ve built a large bridge directly to the shore across the island, and the regular ferry has been removed. We were very worried that the road would be noisy and disturb the animals, but it turned out that the bridge has only tram tracks and bike/pedestrian paths. And there will be a tram stop right opposite the zoo entrance.

The manul enclosure used to be on the opposite side from the ferry dock, and it seems that on our previous visits we had never been to that part. Now the manuls are right by the new entrance, practically the first animals on the way. You just have to climb up the winding path.

It should be said that we had planned the visit back in winter and were worried that if Mimi had kittens shortly before our trip, we definitely wouldn’t see her. We followed all the latest videos and photos closely, and there wasn’t the slightest hint of any surprise.

We arrived at opening time, and what a surprise it was when, as we approached the enclosure, we saw two manuls. The first thought was: Arkas has been let out. But no, the face is still a kitten’s:

Mimi and Sten in Korkeasaari Zoo, June 30, 2026

Mimi with a kitten

We often visit Opel Zoo, and over the past few months we just haven’t been able to see Faye.

In addition, Batu has been kept all this time in a separate small enclosure, and wires appeared in one of the houses in the large enclosure, which we think are for a camera. We were really hoping for kittens, but on our last visit the doors between the enclosures were opened, Batu was roaming the large enclosure, and Faye was still nowhere to be seen.

Today we decided to go for the whole day and find out what was going on with Faye.

In the middle of the day a keeper came to clean up (the keeper is great; when he went into Batu’s enclosure and then into the neighboring enclosure with the European wildcat, he greeted them :-) ) and when he was done, we asked him about Faye. He told us that Faye is alive, but she has some kind of injury in the area of her left cheek (it’s unclear whether it’s an external scratch or some internal injury), and she spends all her time in the house and comes out rarely. They keep them apart and also feed her separate food (we didn’t ask for details); apparently it’s hard for her to chew, but that’s only our guess. But, as he said, this may soon be over and they will live together again. Still, it remains unclear why two weeks ago we saw Batu in the shared enclosure.

Since the keeper lifted the roof on all four houses, but cleaned only three of them, that’s how we figured out exactly which house Faye is in. I stood for five hours opposite the entrance to that house, but no one ever appeared ;-(.

We visited the zoo near the town of Neuwied today. Neuwied is located in western Germany, on the banks of the Rhine, roughly halfway between Frankfurt and Cologne. The zoo is about 10 kilometers from the station. From the nearest bus stop, you still have to climb uphill for another 30 minutes.

The zoo has a large area and lots of greenery. In the more remote part, if it weren’t for the mesh along the sides of the path, you could think you were walking through a forest. On the downside, the grounds are in the hills and a bit vertical, so you can get tired.

The manul enclosure is not far from the entrance. The nearest neighbors on the left:

anteater (is there such a neighbor anywhere else!?), but it was in the winter indoor area.

A photo of a Pallas's cat in Neuwied Zoo, May 24, 2026

View from the left, across the anteater area. You can see the wooden wall of the back room and the mesh above it.

On the right is an extraordinarily handsome sand cat: