About 30 children attended the children's holiday at Sofia Zoo last weekend. The end-of-summer celebrations were organized by Sofia Municipality and Pan Theatre with their clown Panko. Songs, jokes and games filled the morning for participants from the School for Visually Impaired Children, who performed on stage.

Sashka and Mariana from the youth vocal group Usmivka (Smile) were also present. The holiday event was aimed at raising funds for the group's second album. Many people bought Smile's album, My Barbie Doll, for three leva, which enabled the group to record another track.

For more than five years Pan Theatre has popularized a natural, unique and charming interpretation of songs in performances of different styles and genres. Pan Theatre performed the songs of composer and conductor Boris Karadimchev. They included songs from Bulgarian children's music textbooks as well as some of the most popular Bulgarian pop and rock hits, movie and cartoon soundtracks, and music for chamber and symphony orchestras.

Some of the animals in the Zoo celebrated the Day of the Adopter. About 30 animals now have legal parents, who take care of them. Toronto Zoo gave their chameleon to Sofia Zoo as a sign of gratitude for the female hippopotamus sent to impregnate a Toronto Zoo hippopotamus last year. "Soon there will be some more monkeys and snakes coming from England," said Ivan Ivanov, governor of Sofia Zoo.

The Sofia Zoo also expects to receive a kangaroo and several bird species from England. Their arrival has been delayed because of the embargo imposed to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Five wolves, a panther and several llamas have been born in the zoo this year. The Sofia Zoo has representatives of 217 species - 65 bird species, 64 fish types, 15 reptile and amphibian species and 73 mammal species. The total number of animals is 1,071.