Toronto Zoo $40 Million On Elephants?

snowleopard

snowleopard

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Gray areas in zoo's future | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun

An interesting article that talks about the 4 dead elephants over the past few years, and how the zoo has ambitious plans to spend $40 million to overhaul the elephant exhibit within the next 5 years. Giant pandas are also in the works for almost $20 million, and the zoo board is attempting to raise $250 million to update what is sometimes considered an outdated zoo. Any zoo that needs a quarter of a billion dollars in upgrades must be outdated:), as most of the work being proposed is on current exhibits.

Perhaps 20 or even 35 years ago (when it opened) the Toronto Zoo was considered one of the premier zoos in North America, but it needs to spend mega-bucks to be regarded as one of the top zoos on the continent as it has definitely stagnated over the years. "Tundra Trek" is a step in the right direction, and with so many projects in the pipeline then hopefully the Toronto Zoo can regain its status as an excellent zoo.
 
My viewpoint is that if we have to sacrifice our elephants welfare and happiness, I don't want the pandas

Our elephants have served 35 at the zoo, and they definitely deserve a new enclosure
 
Its all up in the smokes right now IMO, there should be a renovation on the elepehant exhibit and the whole 40 or more million dollars should be spent on a STATE-OF-THE-ART exhibit, that would be the reason as Zoogoer said to vote the pandas off however if the zoo decides to get funding for the pandas elsewhere then they should have pandas at the zoo during the construction of the elephants to minimize impact on attendance.

SOME articles have said that elephants removed from Detriot resulted in no decrease in attendence which is not true they lost .1 million and look at what happened when the polar bears where gone they have to bring in Dinosaurs Alive and Stingray Bay! to bring up attendence. So if the eles go then we lose attendence.

I said before they must spend a lot of money on the eles because we are a colder climate zoo and they need to have a lot of indoor space to be together and be warm, during these chilly months.

And to add the $250 million is not just on zoo renovations it also is for a new Animal Health Centre and Education Centre which both costs about $20 - 30 million.

We will surely here on Dec 10 when they have the Board Meeting.
 
I think if the fund raising is done properly, I think we'd be able to have both ellies and pandas. I think a cut in the pay of the bigwigs wouldn't hurt, either. :D IMO I never thought it was fair that they get paid more than the keepers do.

While there are outdated exhibits (like most zoos do have unless they are very new) I wouldn't consider TZ outdated, as a whole. The North Site development also includes a whole new area which features animals from the woodlands. There's also ongoing and new conservation projects, which I believe some of that $250 million is going into.
 
"...a 3,000-square-metre winter holding facility complete with rubber matting, and deep sand floors. As well, the renovation plans include a heated windbreak structure, a year-round exercise area, and an off-exhibit yard to promote breeding"

Hehe I'm drooling right now just imagining this (AND the new Education Centre!) WHEN this happens (it better happen! :p) does anyone have any guesses where we might get another herd? I'm not so sure Africa will fly out 7 baby african elephants again like it did in the 1970s :) I'm assuming Thika will still be around for awhile too- maybe she can be the new matriarch :) *sorry- I'm having a bit too much fun imagining a new elephant exhibit*
 
I think it'd be a great idea if they'd bring in elephants that'd otherwise be shot due to culling. Lives saved, plus new blood :) Heck, sounds good enough for me to move in!
 
Hehe I'm drooling right now just imagining this (AND the new Education Centre!) WHEN this happens (it better happen! :p) does anyone have any guesses where we might get another herd? I'm not so sure Africa will fly out 7 baby african elephants again like it did in the 1970s :) I'm assuming Thika will still be around for awhile too- maybe she can be the new matriarch :) *sorry- I'm having a bit too much fun imagining a new elephant exhibit*[/QUOTE]

I think you will find it was more than 7 elephants
 
Meaghan Edwards said:
Yep, I believe it was nine elephants; they also had a bull. Not sure if they'll be using AI or a obtain a bull.
Click to expand...

Tara, Toka, Iringa, Tequilla, Tessa, Patsy, and Tantor? Who am I missing? :o From the description "an off-exhibit yard to promote breeding" it sounds like a male might be brought in? Just speculating...unless they think having females off exhibit will make them more receptive to AI?
 
Yep, rereading, sounds like they might be bringing a male in.

There was also another elephant, Juanita. She's 40 years old, came to the zoo on 1974-11-01, then moved to Steele and Tata Elephant Ranch, Seagoville 1982-06-29, then to Wildlife Safari 1984-07-21, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo 1997-06-02 and is now residing at Columbus Zoo, where she arrived last year.

Jo (Juanita), an African Bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
 
Upon opening (or shortly after) we had Tessa, Toka, Patsy, Iringa, Tequila, Tara, Juanita and Tantor

In 1980, Tequila & Tantor had a female calf named Thika (still at the zoo) followed by Tumpe in 1983 (Died to 2008/2009 at DAK) to the same parents

Juanita left in 1982

Toka & Tantor had a male calf named Toronto in 1984 (Died 1994 due to salmonella) followed by a male calf named T.W. later that year to Tessa & Tantor (Passed away two days later)

Tantor passed away in 1989 due to complications from a tusk surgery

Patsy was euthanized in 2006, Tequila passed away in 2008 and Tessa & Tara passed away in 2009

Overall, we have had all these elephants (12)

Thika
Iringa
Toka
Tessa
Patsy
Tequila
Tara
Tantor
Toronto
T.W.
Tumpe
Juanita
 
Fascinating....I had no idea about Juanita! Thanks Zoogoer2000 for the summary its very helpful (although now I'm berating myself for not paying more attention when I was 3-4 years old :p)
 
Now should the zoo spend a minimum of $40 million on upgrading their elephant exhibit so that it isn't outdated, and at the same time import more elephants either from another zoo or the wild? Or should the remaining three, possibly non-breeding females be sent to a sanctuary or a different zoo? Considering the harsh winters in Toronto I'd say it is a tough decision for the zoo board:

Out of the zoo - into a sanctuary? - thestar.com
 
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