The Christmas lights bring joy and light to passers-by, and the City’s animal keeper Ville Roivainen has received plenty of questions about when the lights will be put up.
- The lights cheer up both us animal keepers and the animals. The animals clearly perk up to investigate their environment and the lights.
In the autumn before the lights are lit up, the animals sleep a lot more than they do during the brighter periods of the year.
- We’ve also changed the animals’ diets, so that the sudden increase in light doesn’t trigger a nesting reaction. We also reduce the amount of animal protein in the fodder to encourage the rest of our birds to start moulting. With winter approaching, we also keep an eye on where the animals are sleeping to see whether there are any chickens that need to be taken to the farm where they can be kept indoors.
The Christmas lights tradition began in 2000
The Christmas lights tradition began with the restoration of the Kupittaa Park bird pond in 2000. The restoration allowed birds to be kept in Kupittaa in the winter as well, and the project involved building a winter cabin for the birds and renewing the pond’s water circulation system as well. After the restoration, the City started the tradition of lighting up the bird pond for Christmas.