Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo - Developments 2016

No way on Earth I want to go anywhere near the zoo on March break this year. With all 8 of the babies potentially on display, most of the first time or at least first time in their main exhibit, its going to be insane.
 
The zoo's facebook page has confirmed what was reported here over the last day, that the polar bear cub will be viewable for the public starting this Saturday. In response to a question in the comments about when the cub will be named, they say to stay tuned later this week.
 
Nice article about reproduction at the zoo. I would have loved it to be even more detailed but we all know the attention span of the media. Some of the most interesting articles about the zoo involve Dr. Gaby Mastromonaco.

A friend who was talking with a lion keeper has been told the way to tell the cubs apart. Oliver is the smallest (so now we know who was the brave little one playing with the ball in one of their first videos). Hank is the biggest boy. Gus is second biggest. And Harrison appears to be the whitest... however that one would be dependent on how dirty they all get. I don't know how noticeable the size difference is or how long that method to tell them apart will work as they grow.

Also apparently the red river hog holdings got a bit of a refurbishment recently. Don't know how much of a difference there might be to the exhibit. Might have just been off exhibit holding. I didn't get much in the way of details.
 
That's great to see. I'm guessing when they go on exhibit March 12, it'll be indoors.
 
That was an interesting article about McDonald's at the zoo. I liked the video because it kind of gave us a throw back look at the zoo as it was in its early days. So much has changed, as it should have over 40 years. I wish there were some more throw back articles and videos done about the zoo. It would be pretty interesting.
 
Polar Bear cub Juno can be seen on Saturday at 10am-12pm and again at 1pm-3pm. I'm assuming this will only be a weekend deal at first before being a regular occurrence.
 
Love that they stuck with Juno. I love the connection to the armed forces, Juno beach and that she is an honorary member of the armed forces now.
 
cypher said:
Polar Bear cub Juno can be seen on Saturday at 10am-12pm and again at 1pm-3pm. I'm assuming this will only be a weekend deal at first before being a regular occurrence.
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Once Hudson and Humphrey went on display, they were out everyday. I assume Juno will be the same. The lion cubs are weekends only because they are in a behind-the-scenes area and staff are required to watch the visitors at the lion house.
 
adams7 said:
Once Hudson and Humphrey went on display, they were out everyday. I assume Juno will be the same. The lion cubs are weekends only because they are in a behind-the-scenes area and staff are required to watch the visitors at the lion house.
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Yeah, couldn't remember what happened with Hudson and Humphrey. Forgot that they went on permanent display.
 
Had time to kill and weather was good, so I went to the zoo today.

I was shocked that the zoo was opened a bit earlier than usual. I soon found out that was because the 3rd Annual Move Your Paws For The Polar Bear Cause 1K & 5K Walk/Run.
I went straight to see Polar Bear cub Juno, which was a ton of fun. She’s definitely her own bear compared to Humphrey. She’s a lot more timid and cautious of everything, which makes her seem even more adorable if you can believe that. Because of the great weather conditions, the viewing was a lot more packed than I’ve ever seen it, so I was only able to get shots of her in the shelter. I’ll try posting pictures later today, tomorrow the latest.

For the first time I got a chance to see the young wolf pack walking around in their exhibit. I noticed that one of them was limping, and not putting any weight on its left hind leg. Seemed like a serious injury. Never got a chance to stick around and ask a Keeper about it. I think it may have been one of the females.

At the White Lion cub viewing, someone asked the Keeper why there was no naming contest for the Lion cubs or even the Polar Bear cub. The Keeper said that there was discussion about starting a contest, but in the end the higher ups said the Keepers would get to name them. The Keeper believes it’s because the zoo wants more attention on the Panda cubs, as they will be a bigger draw, due to their limited time here.
 
So I had some free time on my hands and was browsing some links I had bookmarked. Ended up on the Board of Management page of the Toronto Zoo. They had their meeting on Feb 25, and everything went accordingly. But I notice that there was a new item on the list that wasn't there before.

Item ZB7.11 titled, Business Trade Mission - Chongqing, China. Basically item is a "Request to send Toronto Zoo Board Member delegation on business trade mission to Chongqing, China".

Here's the full description:

"Authorized up to three board members to accompany Mayor John Tory and the Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Zoo on an upcoming business trade mission to Chongqing Zoo in April, 2016 to facilitate further discussions on future relations and the future of the giant panda cubs; with funding up to $16,000 in total allocated from the Toronto Zoo operating budget, provided that the staff travel budget is not adversely affected and requested that a report be submitted to the Board on the outcome of this trade mission."

I wonder if the Zoo Board wants to keep the Panda cubs in Toronto like other zoos have in the United States?

What are your guy's thoughts?

Here's the link to the Agenda item page:
Agenda Item History - 2016.ZB7.11
 
It is an interesting little addition to the board meeting. Keeping the twins would free up space for Calgary's breeding attempts but Toronto would have to pay for the privilege of keeping them. The cubs are about to become the zoo's super stars but in two years time when they are all supposed to leave they wont be babies any more pulling in massive numbers of guests. I don't know if it makes a ton of sense to keep them for the cost. That money would better be spent focusing on the orang outdoor exhibit or virtually any other project.

Could sending the board members on a panda mission be a smoke screen for another deal? At first I thought maybe get us some new red pandas... but hey you don't need to send a delegation to do that. Maybe they are interested in exhibiting the golden snub nosed monkeys again. The zoo does have an entire primate exhibit just outside of Euraisa that could be used. With the Barbary apes down to just 2 and two massive exhibits they could easily house snub nosed monkeys on loan with little to no exhibit modification. They could just open the access road up to it again. Super simple. The exhibit space isn't going to be needed by the Canadian Wilderness for a good while. It could be a good draw to fill in the time from the pandas departure through to the orang outdoor opening. However they are very rarely seen outside of China so it seems unlikely... Wishful thinking on my part.

If they are not after keeping the twins... which I'm a little doubtful of... I do wonder what they are up to. Something tells me they are after something else but if not the monkeys I have a hard time figuring out what. Why do we need to send a 3 member delegation of board members to China? Can't the zoo just call and talk to whoever they need to? I will be interested to learn more likely through the next board meeting.

Also more info on the members viewing of the panda twins...

http://www.torontozoo.com/Membership/Preview/
 
Oh getting the pandas in the first place was hardly worth it for the zoo honestly. Now I love the pandas don't get me wrong but the millions being spend on them yearly could easily have been spent accelerating other projects. Let's think about that a minute.

2012 construction on the interpretive center... no need if there's no pandas. And they could have kept the stingray exhibit which was pretty popular. The exhibit would have needed construction regardless for the tigers. So despite the article no real cost there.

2013 the pandas arrive with no hope of the little cash cow cubs due to immaturity of both bears. Bing there goes 1 million in rental fees (feeding is additional we wont count staffing as keeping the tigers we would have needed to pay staff members).

What could have been done. Use that money to start the health center while finishing off the Eurasian Wilds. Or spend that money to have two snow leopard exhibits as planned. If construction starts in 2013 and takes 2 years as planned that means the health center is done in 2015.

2014 Still no cubs due to immaturity (why oh why did we not get fully mature pandas?) All costs associated with the pandas but now attendance dips because those who wanted to see them did in 2013.

The health unit could be under construction. Hey now that we are in year two we have saved 2 million on rentals... What's the projected cost of the orang outdoor exhibit? Oh wait 2 million. Could have had both projects on the go at once... probably.

2015 we finally get cubs but wait now we have to pay 600 000 each... thats another 1.2 million a year. Now the panda rental is 2.2 million plus those cubs will start to eat bamboo in 2016 so food costs will go up... Oh any we have to have keepers on hand 24/7 plus borrow and pay for two panda experts from China.

Again back to the orang outdoor... 2 million for it... and our orangs would be happy because finally they could breath fresh air, feel the breeze, experience pure sunshine and rain, feel grass under foot... But if we started their exhibit in 2014 its probably done by now driving up visits on its own. That money might be set aside for the next project... either Indomalaya or the Canadian Wilderness, maybe the gorilla outdoor.

2016 the pandas cubs will go on display driving visits back up but they are still costing us 2.2 million a year plus food, additional care... oh yeah and panda insurance increases times two.

That money could go to the next project on the list.

2017 the panda cubs aren't so cute anymore but will still need to nurse from Er Shun so there is pretty much no chance at a 2017 breeding season. Realistically we had only one shot at cubs... that was worth it. Attendance will dip again.

More money saved to work on that next project. Which hopefully by summer 2018 is ready to be the next big draw.

2018 the pandas leave and become Calgary's expense. Odds are they will leave as early in 2018 as possible to Er Shun and Da Mao will be comfortable breeding in the spring. That is if they dont leave late in 2017 to ensure that... possibly leaving the cubs to finish out the year here. And because we spend 5 years hosting the pandas we spent about 8.6 million in rental costs. Forgot the additional staffing for the cubs, insurance and feeding them. I know we made money through visits, retail and food sales but that money could have been spent elsewhere. Come 2018 the zoo doesnt have anything on the go right now to take the panda's place. That could result in a very hard year on the zoo.

Love the pandas but the money could have been spent better elsewhere.
 
You make a good point TZFan. The money to keep the Pandas here could have definitely been spent elsewhere.

Like most Keepers in other sections of the zoo, they feel the Panda deal should have been a lot short term deal. Not 5 years. They were talking like under 1 year. That would've driven about Revenue enough to make it worth it for the zoo as a whole.

I remember hearing a Keeper mention that Eurasia took a hit the development because of the cost of the Pandas.
 
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