Toronto Zoo AZA Accreditation Denied to Toronto Zoo for 2012-13

Ya but can someone explain to me how zoos work meaning since Toronto zoo lost there accredation they will lose 200 animals that are loan. And it will effect breeding,conservation and educational programs. They already lost 3 elephants but my question is, is that how will the zoo make money to support itself in the long run if this is what's taken away?
 
Zooplantman said:
But looking at just the local issue, can anyone think of an accredited AZA facility that lost its accreditation and did not come back stronger than before? I haven't looked at the history myself, but from memory I suspect loss of accreditation is usually a very helpful therapy for a zoo on a bad road.
I suggest that this is not as harmful or outrageous as some here fear
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I do agree with this. I am curious as to see how the zoo responds to this decision. One thing I am wondering about is how will this affect the new Eurasia construction project that is set to begin any time now. It will be interesting to see what species are lost/numbers thinned down as well. Will any of the more high profile or more popular species at the zoo be leaving because of this?
 
Question: Are the elephants already gone? (to PAWS) If not, then I think there's nothing that can be done until 2013. But if they are still there (in Toronto), then I'm wondering if the politicians can respond -- changing their vote to send them to PAWS and let the Zoo officials decide the destination of the elephants.
 
Zooplantman said:
But looking at just the local issue, can anyone think of an accredited AZA facility that lost its accreditation and did not come back stronger than before? I haven't looked at the history myself, but from memory I suspect loss of accreditation is usually a very helpful therapy for a zoo on a bad road.
I suggest that this is not as harmful or outrageous as some here fear
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The Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California is still ailing unfortunately since it lost its accreditation back in 2006.
 
DavidBrown said:
The Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California is still ailing unfortunately since it lost its accreditation back in 2006.
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Of course there's a huge difference between the little Micke Grove Zoo and the huge Metro Toronto Zoo -- which has been recently listed as among the world's leading zoos (Forbes Traveler, 2007). Even more so, there's a bigger difference between little Lodi and Toronto, Canada's largest city.
 
ANyhuis said:
Of course there's a huge difference between the little Micke Grove Zoo and the huge Metro Toronto Zoo -- which has been recently listed as among the world's leading zoos (Forbes Traveler, 2007). Even more so, there's a bigger difference between little Lodi and Toronto, Canada's largest city.
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Alan, I didn't mean to compare them, just pointing out that loss of accreditation hasn't helped one particular zoo as Zooplantman was asking about.

I suspect that he is right that generally the loss of accreditation has had a useful effect on zoo improvement.

Does anyone know if Detroit lost its accreditation when it sent its elephants to a non-AZA facility? I know that there was some talk that it might. This story has been played out in some other cities previously (i.e., AZA facilities sending elephants to PAWS and the place in Tennessee), although is this the first time that the AZA has actually yanked accreditation over the elephant issue?
 
DavidBrown said:
Alan, I didn't mean to compare them, just pointing out that loss of accreditation hasn't helped one particular zoo as Zooplantman was asking about.
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NOT trying to be contentious, just pointing out that Toronto is a very unique case, I believe. They are, historically, one of the leading zoos in the entire world.
 
ANyhuis said:
NOT trying to be contentious, just pointing out that Toronto is a very unique case, I believe. They are, historically, one of the leading zoos in the entire world.
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Understood:) You are right, and of course this is a big deal for them to lose their accreditation. Hopefully the issues leading to it will be fixed soon and accreditation will be restored.
 
If nothing else, this acts as a timely reminder that non-accredited zoos are not necessarily poor for animals!

Feel rather sorry for MTZ - I'm only casually familiar with the circumstances but this looks rather like they've been caught in a 'Catch-22' situation.
 
Detroit had been threatened with loss of accreditation. This is a slightly different situation because its a case of the city council making the animal decisions (counter to what the animal managers think is best) where the situation in Detroit didn't necessarily involve any political meddling, but was an internal situation.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.
 
This left me quite speechless when I found out, but after doing some rationalizing and coming to terms with this situation (and getting out of some slight denial lol), I believe come 2013, TZ will have no problem regaining their accreditation. This is a political issue, not a care issue, so once things blow over things will probably go back to normal.

Still, mind blowing...
 
why this is happening

I had to weigh in on this discussion. Its frustrating that the this news is not getting out there. The Zoo News Digest posted a blog this past week about the zoo and PAWS, 2 days later the AZA made its decision. The blog posts emails between PAWS vet and the California State Health Department/Tuberculosis Department. They outline that an elephant at PAWS named Rebecca who died last January was infected with TB and how she infected 3 other elephants as well. These emails are dated June/July 2011. the TB issue was presented to the zoo board as early as January this year when Sabu died at PAWS. He was an elephant formerly diagnosed with TB whose health was failing as early as July 2011 as outline in a blog post by a visiting sanctuary owner from Thailand. Many question arose about whether or not TB was present at PAWS, the zoo management was concerned and was seeking the medical information from PAWS to confirm or deny TB. According the the zoo boards February meeting minutes they have still not received any medical documentation from PAWS and Pat Derby was quoted in a news blog as saying that the Toronto Zoo was making them jump through hoops to get our elephants. the zoo board was fully aware of the TB issue but had planned on sending the elephants anyway without proof one way or the other. The AZA was aware of this and stepped in the only way they could. I commend the AZA for this action as it shows they truly care about the welfare of these elephants. As it stands now because the media fears liable issue by reporting the TB issues these elephants will be sent to PAWS even though the Tennessee Sanctuary was ruled out for this very reason, an outbreak and protocols in place to prevent an outbreak that failed. We have no idea how this happened, human error etc. It is a travesty. Myself and a group of concerned citizens invested hundreds of hours and have spent months trying to get the media to pick this story up. We did succeed however in getting the zoo management to care about the TB issue and make their stand despite the bullying and oppression by these ill informed politicians.
 
it is such a travesty that this is happening without people knowing the whole truth. It breaks my heart that these animals are being treated as if they dont matter. seems the ideology of anti zoo is more important than the true cause of animal welfare.
 
yes this was well done and it hits the nail on the head. the problem is without the TB story breaking the general public will continue to support councils decision believing them and the zoo to be martyrs for an animal welfare cause. Without all the facts the story is completely different than the actual truth. The AZA is being pegged as a bully but truth is how could they support a zoo whose governance body would be so uncaring regarding the risk to these animals health. For far too long activists have waged a war against zoos and zoos have had little public support in terms of their value and importance. Our goal is to stand up and be as prolific a voice in favour of zoos as the voice of opposition is. Support in this cause is welcome. if you are able to telephone our Mayor or email them regarding the concerns of transfer while TB is still a threat please do so. The more we keep reminding them and showing them that this is in fact not a secret any more, that people are aware despite lack of media coverage the better chance we have at halting this transfer so that council and the zoo management can re-evaluate their decisions. Thanks in advance to those who who choose to help us. Cheers
 
ANyhuis said:
Typical Bob Barker, bashing the Toronto Zoo officials:
Toronto News: Bob Barker threatens to pull back money to transfer Toronto Zoo elephants - thestar.com

But there's still hope, folks. The tide is starting to turn and maybe this whole move of the elephants to PAWS will be cancelled:
Opponents hope to stop move of elephants from the Toronto Zoo to PAWS - Lodi News-Sentinel: News

I wish some good zoo would step forward and offer to take them.
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Affirmative.

It is beyond the pale that the governance of a zoological institution is so impaired by a politicized City Council. CC seems also impervious to the fact that as animals are part of a conservation breeding program and the facility member of an accredited organization like AZA that up and above there are even more considerations for zoo management to abide by.

Besides, if and when BB and PAWS really ever cared about elephants at all ... they would put their funding towards securing a future in the wild for elephants in Vietnam for instance (I you just care to look at the news out this week that without any concerted effort the last elephants would go extinct in the foreseeable future from this range state). But expect ... alas ... expecting none of that and besides the stated goals of PAWS and blinkered vision so-called celebs like BB are hell bent on putting elephants from zoos altogether ... which in itself seems like an absurd final goal. Their whole vision is so negative - negative - negative that really would can you even begin to want to like about their dish??!!! :rolleyes:
 
I was in Toronto Zoo last month and having seen the African Elephants there can say the decision to send them away to a sanctuary is correct. No zoo can match the sanctuaries in terms of space. Some responsible zoo directors have supported the decision. The rest are behaving as usual but public support is moving away from these pompous bigots.
 
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