Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo- Births, Deaths, Arrivals and Departures 2014

Seems like the CAZA is trying to build a white lion population in Canada. Well maybe not the CAZA just Canadian zoos.

There are white lions obviously in Toronto. We have our three. Ours arrived in 2012.

I know they have them at Safari Niagara. They have a pride of four. They arrived in 2013.
Safari Niagara welcomes white lions | Niagara Falls Review

Parc Safari also has a pride. Their pride is at least 3 possibly more if they have bred because they arrived in 2008.
White lions settle in Quebec zoo to breed - Montreal - CBC News

According to facebook African Lion Safari has a pride of 5. The male's name is Feddah. Its being promoted as new and the lions look to be about a year to a year and a half old so they either arrived late in 2013 or sometime in 2014.

And lastly clearly Jungle Cat World has one male Gopa. I dont know when he came because I didnt know he even existed.

So based on that there are at least 16 white lions in Canada at 5 places. They are all young so that population could explode in the next couple of years. Hopefully there is some plan for all of the cubs better than Bowmanville's hand rearing and releasing normal lion cubs back into the wild.
 
I went to jungle cat world yesterday and the keeper also told us that Gopa their white lion is three years old and was originally from toronto but he didn't get along with the others so they sent him to Quebec before being send to jungle cat world.
 
At three that would make Gopa the same age as Fintan, Makali and Lemon which based on his mane in the video looked to be roughly as full as Fintans.
 
Yeah! Maybe they brought in both Gopa and Fintan to see which one bonded better with the girls because obviously they need lions that get along with each other.
 
Who knows what the reason was for Gopa? Maybe he was always going to go to Parc Safari. Maybe their male isn't a breeder, and like Lemon there is a genetic problem. They have 6-7 year old lions who have never bred.

The reason I wonder about Gopa's import is because the zoo originally purchased just the three. Here's the document.

http://www.torontozoo.com/pdfs/org/Acquisition of Lions20120116.pdf

There must be a story there but we might not figure it out.
 
It could be that the zoo purchased multiple white lions, with the thought of keeping 3 (1 male, 2 female), and sending the rest to other zoos.

What I understand from the video posted, is that Gopa belongs to the zoo, as she says Toronto Zoo can take him back whenever they want. But Gopa can breed, as Jungle Cat World is looking for a mate for him.

So far, I'm thinking along the same lines as Cloudedleopard6. Toronto Zoo received at least 4 White Lions (Fintan, Makali, Lemon, and Gopa) with the intention of keeping only 3. The girls and at least 1 boy, which makes sense. If Fintan and Gopa come from different Prides, they would have maybe been friendly with each other as cubs, but as they matured, they would start fighting with each other. Unlike brother, who share responsibly of breeding. Fintan was probably more accepted by the girls over Gopa, therefore he was sent away to form a family elsewhere.

Of course this is all speculations, and I'm hoping one of us can question a keeper about it. Another mystery to be solved.

On a side note, Cloudedleopard6, how'd you like Jungle Cat World? I've been there once last year. Thinking of going again.
 
The lady feeding the cat in that video is a really good friend of mine. Gopa is on breeding loan as a lot of the smaller zoos in Ontario often do, trading/borrowing cats and often sharing the cubs of any litters.
 
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So Gopa is a breeding than. Interesting. Thanks for the news tiffanyanddave, much appreciated. Think you can find out any other info on Gopa?
 
So Gopa is a breeding than. Interesting. Thanks for the news tiffanyanddave, much appreciated. Think you can find out any other info on Gopa?
You're welcome. I'm always loaded with inside info at a number of zoos and always happy to share the info, or at least the info that I am allowed to share. Technically I could find out any details regarding JCW down to the last penny. ;) I'll get in touch with her as soon as I can.
 
It will be interesting to see what you can find out Tiffanyanddave.

In sad news I have been told that pygmy hippo Abou was put down yesterday (Aug 14th). As we all know shes not been in the best of health since the delivery of her last calf almost two years ago. Unfortunately her quality of life got to that point where it was kinder to put her to sleep. Poor girl had a hard life with bad health and the deaths of several calves (most while she lived at Mountain View). She was the youngest offspring of the zoos original pygmy hippo pair Psi and Hilda. RIP Abou.
 
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Thats too bad to hear about the pygmy hippo :(, and about Gopa at Jungle Cat World, i don't know if he is on a breeding own or not but he is in an exhibit by himself. When i was there, they were talking about putting him with a female (not white lion), not for breeding purposes but so they both wouldn't be alone.
 
Went to the zoo today. Overall, a pretty boring day.

Only real news is that a keeper confirmed with me that the baby marmoset has passed away. Not sure on any of the specifics, but it seems it was always on the weak side. Seems the news I received of it doing well was false.
 
Awh that is so sad cypher :(

Did you get a chance to go into the Malayan woods pavilion to see if there are any updates on the clouded leopards or to see if you could glimpse a peek?
 
I went into the Malayan Woods Pavilion. Clouded Leopards exhibit is still boarded up. Tried looking in with no success at seeing anything.
 
Went to zoo today saw nneka way up high in the outdoor exhibit and Ngozi quickly climbed up and tapped the rope she was on to make her come back. A couple questions did the electric eel in the Americas pavilion the tank was empty? Also in the walk thru semi circle in the americas there was a snapping turtle in the exhibit past the roaches, spiders etc did it not used to be something else? Today was the first time i saw one of the beavers outside awake.
 
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