Established on July 12, , it is considered to be one of the oldest public zoos in southeastern Europe. Belgrade zoo officially applied for European Association of Zoos and Aquaria membership in During the Austrian occupation of northern Serbia from to , they conducted extensive project of rebuilding Belgrade, turning the city into Westernized European, baroque -style town.
This period is today referred to as the Baroque Belgrade. There, he formed something of the first zoo in Belgrade. He ordered his soldiers to capture and bring to him "wild beasts from the forests and mountains of Serbia", which were then kept in cages.
The Austrians withdrew in and the Ottomans demolished the building in The zoo was initially no larger than 3. During the Second World War , the zoo was bombed twice , by the Nazis in and by the Allies in , heavily damaging the infrastructure and killing most of the animals. The zoo also lost seven hectares of land. The zoo recovered over time but again faced tough times in the eighties.
Animals were neglected and living in bad conditions. In the zoo received a pair of black rhinoceroses as a gift from the Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and the country of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, they lived for just a couple of months due to bad care and lack of knowledge about this species.
In Muammar Gaddafi also gave six of his Arabian camels. He received substantial recognition for his work throughout the region.
