Budapest Zoo Ranked Among Europe's Best

The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden has been ranked 15th on the Sheridan list of top zoos in Europe and occupies the top spot in Hungary, the park said on Wednesday.

The unofficial Sheridan list ranks zoos based on visitor experience, the parks' level of services and the professional work being done in the zoos, the statement said.

Of the 126 European zoos in the ranking, the Budapest Zoo is 15th with 207 points. It is ahead of all national zoos (four in total) and several of its renowned counterparts such as Copenhagen Zoo, Berlin Zoo, Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, London Zoo, Antwerp Zoo, Barcelona Zoo, Loro Parque in Tenerife and both zoos in Paris.

The brainchild behind the rating system is Anthony Sheridan, a British businessman who was originally successful in the electronics industry. When he retired from business in 2007, he decided to regularly visit Europe's most important zoos and developed a system for evaluating them.