Calgary Zoo Calgary Zoo news 2012-2013

The zoo just released details on its vision for itself in 20 years. The elephant exibit will become the panda exibit which in 10 years will in turn become an orangutan exhibit. The prehistoric part will be phased out in favour of Japanese Snow Monkeys and Takin. The new lemur exhibit will also open. All this in the next five years.

The following 15 years they hope to do alot more. The tigers will be moved into a new home in the prehistoric park along with a tropical building. The Canadian woods will become home to a state of the art Canadian section featuring polar bears, seals.

The Calgary Zoo is getting bigger - much bigger | CTV Calgary News
 
The new masterplan looks really good! If all of the exhibits turn out as great as penguin plunge, the zoo will become the best in Canada, if it isn't already. I hope that the zoo goes through with all of the plans, especially the new Himalayas exhibit which could possibly bring saiga to the zoo. It does seem a little weird though that after the pandas leave, orangutans will move into a northern Asian themed exhibit.
 
I have spent a long time analyzing the Calgary Zoo's Master Plan and as others have remarked it is ambitious and potentially brilliant. The zoo is already quite impressive and even if half of the items are accomplished in the 20-year blueprint then the facility will be transformed into a world-class establishment. The focus on cold-weather creatures makes sense, but the addition of a Tropical House many years down the road will allow for some more South American animals back in the collection. The entire northern half of the zoo will be devoted to cold-weather critters from Asia (snow monkeys, takin, Amur tigers), Antarctica (penguins) and North America (3 bear species plus a plethora of other animals in the already excellent Canadian Wilds zone).

The bottom half of the zoo will feature a Himalayan section with yet more cold-weather creatures (with orangutans being an oddball addition after the giant pandas leave) and that means that the only true section of the zoo devoted to warm-weather animals will be the south-east corner and its African area. The departure of the zoo's 4 Asian elephants will not have any effect on attendance and I applaud the zoo for being the "Minnesota Zoo" of Canada with many cold-weather exhibits yet with a few large-scale, year-round indoor attractions.

My only real question is where the funding will come from, as the initial press release states that the zoo plans to spend $162 million on 36 projects just in the next 5 years. Wow! Is there a solid funding base from the Provincial government? Are private donors lining up in anticipation of a flood of new visitors via the giant panda loan deal? Essentially the Master Plan is fabulous but so was the Arctic Shores $200 million complex (polar bears, beluga whales, etc) and that never saw the light of day. Penguin Plunge has revitilized the zoo and I am rooting for success for an establishment that many will already claim is the best that Canada has to offer in terms of zoological institutions. Toronto and Calgary will soon represent two zoos with zero elephants, but giant pandas and an increasing focus on cold-weather animals is admirable.
 
The zoo is gentoo penguins have begun laying eggs. However the zoo has been forced so far to destroy 3 of the eggs. Genetically unvaluable birds have breed and rather than taking up precious space with more animals they dont want breeding for the next several decades they have decided to ensure the eggs dont hatch. Even sadder is that one of the parents is valuable but its mate is not. They arent planning on forcing pairings like Toronto does so odds are more eggs will have to be destroyed in the future.

Calgary Zoo forced to destroy penguin eggs
 
Calgary zoo is facing a very big problem as the flood waters rise in the city. Parts of the zoo have flooded, see the pictures in the articles. 2 zebras have already been evacuated to their breeding ranch. 2 pot bellied pigs are in the care of the cities animal services. All other animals thus far are being moved to higher ground at the health center or other barns and buildings. Those who can be moved higher within their own facility have been. If conditions worsen the big cats will be move to the court houses holding facilites and be locked up. So far no help is needed and the keepres are proceeding with their usual routines while preparing for what could come.

To all Albertan zoo chatters in affected areas I hope that you and all those you love are safe and sound and your property hasnt been damaged.

Calgary Zoo takes flooding precautions | Globalnews.ca

Calgary zoo animals among those evacuated - The Globe and Mail
 
Never realized that the Calgary Zoo is actually on an island.While usually this would seem kind of cool for a zoo this terrible flooding is a major drawback.Does any one know if there is a history of flooding at the Calgary Zoo ?

Team Tapir223
 
TeamTapir223 said:
Never realized that the Calgary Zoo is actually on an island.While usually this would seem kind of cool for a zoo this terrible flooding is a major drawback.Does any one know if there is a history of flooding at the Calgary Zoo ?

Team Tapir223
Click to expand...

After reading through the history section of the Zoo's website (Calgary Zoo - About the Zoo: 1912 - 1932), here is the history of flooding:

1929 (first year in operation)- flooding from heavy runoff (2 feet deep) resulted in animals being evacuated

1932- 2 floods with one occurring as a result of a 20 ft ice jam in December. The flood waters then froze and the entire island was covered in ice until the spring.

1933- Plans developed for flood protection

1934-1935- a flood dike (8 ft high) built around east-end of the island. Additional dikes were built later to protect the rest of the island.

2005- dikes/levees built in the 1930's and sandbags resulted in only moderate flooding

June 2013- worst flooding in city's modern history, potentially ever. This article (Alberta floods: ?Firehose of moisture? caused floods in Calgary) details why the flooding happened. Pretty amazing that one area received half its total annual precipitation in 36 hours.
 
I really feel for the keepers in Calgary. As more news comes to light about the situation they found themselves in you cant help but feel for them. All weekend keepers had to stand guard over the hippos with rifles, prepared to kill the animals they loved if they decided to just swim out of their building, all in the name of public safetly. Other keepers had to wear wetsuits and swim out to the giraffes who were terrified and up to their torsos in the water fighting the very people sent to save them. The fact there hasnt been more losses in a situation that appears to have come about with little warning and late into the night, is a real credit to their bravery and devotion. Great job keepers. Unfortunately there could be more deaths to come as the giraffes and other unmentioned animals are quite traumatized, cold and stressed. And with all the damage to the zoo if animals cant be restored to their exhibits soon enough the zoo is seriously considering sending them out to other zoos as fast as possible to minimize stress.

I'm adding a number of articles because several have different things they mention and all have a variety of photos.

Hippos could have swum out of flooded Calgary Zoo and into Bow River - The Globe and Mail

Hippos nearly escaped Calgary Zoo during flood - Edmonton - CBC News

Calgary Zoo staff risked lives stopping hippo from escaping into river | Canada | News | National Post

?We could have had hippos god knows where?: Zoo reveals close calls as floodwaters rose

Calgary Zoo's director of animal care Dr. Jake Veasey recalls frantic bid to rescue charges | Calgary | News | Calgary Sun
 
Thanks TZFan for posting all of those interesting articles. I'm glad that the Calgary Zoo has such dedicated keepers. I don't know if I would ever be able to swim in dirty water with hippos hiding in it. I wonder which animals they would have to move to other collections. It seems that they will have to relocate many of the African animals whose homes were destroyed in the flood. I'm also curious how the flood will affect the master plan that the zoo recently completed.
 
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