Zverinec Andrassyovcov Betliar Menagerie • Andrassy Menagerie

Menagerie of Andrassy county family in park of Betliar manor house - probably the oldest known ancestor of today's Slovak zoos (with the exception of game parks that exist at least since the 13th century). The main building in the shape of a medieval castle - menagerie mainly of carnivores, lake with nine-meters high artificial waterfall and artificial caves for polar bears (of the 1920s), breeding deer park for local ungulates (apparently nearly or generally it did not serve for hunting)... The menagerie was created by Count Emanuel Andrássy I (in Hungarian Manó or Emánuel) in the late 19th century, the deer park is from 1885 - initially only for red deer, but two years later, Emanuel's son Gejza (Géza) brought into the deer park also fallow deer and mouflon. The menagerie existed sometime up to beginning of the WWII, after the war the whole Betliar was nationalized. The last owner was Emanuel (Manó) Andrássy II.

Various sources mentioned various animals - polar bears, brown bears, wolves, foxes, lynxes, wild cats, badgers, martens, otters, red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, mouflons, owls, hawks, falcons and perhaps even some species from India, Ceylon and Pamir - breeding of these animals in Beliar is likely (presumable), however probably only polar bears (1908 - 1914), red deer, fallow deer and mouflons are documented.