Schönbrunn

Chance to replace zoo director “Dirty Herring”

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has put the management of Schönbrunn Zoo out to tender from 2025. The application is open to anyone who meets the long list of requirements. The controversial current director Stephan "Dirty" Hering-Hagenbeck "naturally" also wants to apply.

No, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has not had enough of Stephan "Dirty" Hering-Hagenbeck as Schönbrunn Zoo Director, despite his passion for nameless animals, pump guns and questionable projects worth millions - keyword aquarium. The fact that the ministry has now advertised the "management function of Schönbrunn Zoo Ltd." is rather routine.

What a Schönbrunn director should be able to do
Every five years, the ministry advertises the management position. Hering-Hagenbeck's contract runs from 2020 to the end of 2024 and anyone who meets the requirements can apply: For example, a degree in a suitable subject, experience in comparable positions, but also things like "social skills", "successful work in media relations" and a "very service and quality-oriented" nature are required. 

Hering-Hagenbeck wants to continue "naturally"
Hering-Hagenbeck will "naturally" also apply, as he told the "Krone". He can point to a "positive balance sheet in economic and zoological terms", he says: he has "initiated many projects" and also sees it as his "personal responsibility to continue and implement them".

The Vienna branch of the globally active US recruitment agency H.I.E.C. has been entrusted with the selection process. Applications can be submitted until May 15. Both Hering-Hagenbeck's predecessor Dagmar Schratter and her predecessor Helmut Pechlaner had their contracts extended twice and were in office for 13 years (Schratter left after reaching retirement age) or, in Pechlaner's case, for the full 15 years.