The zoo was opened here in the spring of 1949. However, it had been established one year earlier. It was created thanks to the initiative of the group of animal lovers that the businessman and zoologist Ludvík Grác from Podmokly gathered around him. An amazing place in the wonderful environment of the "Pastýřská stěna" forest park was chosen for the zoo. Establishment of the zoo had been preceded by official application to the local national committee. The application was accepted, and the citizens of Děčín enthusiastically set to work. The first structures were free standing aviaries built close to each other with a front wall made of wire netting designed for exotic birds, and similar ones for birds of prey on the opposite side. An area of about 8 hectares was originally allocated for the project, but at the foundation only 2 ha were used. Some 50 species were bred here in the first years of existence. The most significant part comprised birds and small mammals representing Czechoslovak fauna. The range of animals kept in the zoo was gradually extended. The most valuable animals at the beginning of the history of the zoo were for example Malayan bears, back then the only representatives of the species in the country, Rhesus monkeys, baboons, Brown bears, Carpathian wolves that reproduced regularly, Taiwanese Siku deer from direct import, moufflons, bucks, griffon vulture, pheasants, storks, herons, etc.