Dr. Endre Sós has been appointed as the new Director General of our Zoo. A veterinarian by training, he has worked at our institution for 30 years and is internationally recognized for his expertise in wildlife conservation and zoo and wildlife medicine. Since 2023, in the absence of an officially appointed director, he has been leading the Zoo as acting director.
The General Assembly of Budapest elected Dr. Endre Sós as the new Director General of the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden at its meeting on May 28. With this decision, the Zoo once again has an officially appointed director general after more than five years.
Dr. Sós was born in Budapest in 1971. He earned his veterinary degree in 1995 from the University of Veterinary Medicine. In 1998, he completed the endangered species management course offered by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He received two postgraduate veterinary specialist diplomas from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Szent István University—one in companion animal medicine in 2006 and another in exotic animal medicine in 2008. In 2012, he earned a PhD from the University of West Hungary with a dissertation on the health management of the great bustard (Otis tarda). That same year, he also obtained the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) diploma.
Dr. Sós joined the Budapest Zoo in December 1995 as a veterinarian. In 2003, he was appointed Chief Veterinarian and Head of the Veterinary and Conservation Department. Since 2017, he has served as Director of Conservation and Veterinary Services. With nearly three decades of service, he is one of the Zoo’s longest-serving staff members. Although he was only recently appointed Director General, he had already been fulfilling the responsibilities of that role since 2023, based on the Zoo’s organizational and operational regulations.
As Chief Veterinarian, he played a leading role among Hungarian professionals in an international research team that achieved the world’s first and second successful rhinoceros births through artificial insemination. As a zoo veterinarian and conservation expert, he has provided professional advice to numerous zoos both in Hungary and abroad, under the auspices of various international organizations. These included institutions in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Russia, Serbia, Poland, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Algeria. Within the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), he contributes as a veterinary advisor to several working groups, including those focused on elephants, Przewalski’s horses, and red pandas. The association also entrusted him with mentoring two candidate member zoos: Belgrade and Sibiu.
In the Hungarian Association of Zoos and Aquaria (MÁASZ), he served as Secretary from 2016 to 2021 and has been Vice President since 2021. In the Hungarian Society for Zoo and Wildlife Medicine (MVÁÁT), he was President from 2008 to 2018 and Vice President from 2018 to 2023. He also held leadership roles in the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (EAZWV), serving as Vice President (2018–2020), President (2021–2022), and Past President (2023–2024). He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, a U.S.-based scientific journal in the field.
Dr. Sós is also active in teaching. He regularly gives lectures in Hungarian and English at conferences, professional trainings, and universities around the world. Since 2006, he has been teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at his alma mater, the University of Veterinary Medicine, where he also leads the Zoo Department based at the Budapest Zoo. He holds the title of Associate Professor at the university.
His work has been recognized with several professional awards. In 2007, he received the Pro Natura Memorial Plaque from the Minister of Environment and Water. In 2023, he was named “Zoo Animal Welfare Professional of the Year” by the Minister of Justice.
Dr. Sós is also well known to the public, thanks in part to the Dr. S.O.S. – Emergency in the Wild documentary series aired on Spektrum TV, which won the 2025 Television Critics Award for Best Educational Entertainment Program.
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