In 1901, a rich clockmaker from Loche of the name William Gabus gave 150 000 francs at his death to the city of Bern for the construction of a new zoological park, preferably on the site of Dählhözli forest.

It seemed at the time that the terrain would be more adequate for a simple animal garden, but it was nonetheless the site chosen by the city council in 1927 to build the park.

The idea of creating an association proved useful, as it had more than 1800 members only two years later, and publicity in the cinema and on the street permitted to gain approximately 50,000 francs to help the construction.

Finally, on June 5, 1935, The Tierpark Dählhölzli opened its doors to the public, in the presence of the Federal Council Rudolf Minger.

He gave his place the next year to a young doctor in zoology, Heini Hediger, who stayed at the helm until 1943, and wrote a book in which he recalled his experience in the park during the war, the difficulties to find food and material to care for the animals and how the Park Association helped him cope with what was happening in Europe at the time.

He brought more exotic animals to the zoo and opened the zoopedagogy center to help children, a facility still in operation today.

The park officially became a registered scientific organisation under the norms of the EU in 2010, which facilitate the conservation efforts and exchanges with other institutions.

[5] Among the most popular animals, the zoo houses gray wolves, bison, otters, carpathian lynx, muskox, brown bear, boars, and many others.

There is also a great variety of birds, from the Alps and abroad, like the rock ptarmigan, the snowy owl, flamingos, the black stork, the Bali myna, etc.