Calgary Zoo Calgary Zoo News 2020

TZFan said:
Looks like there might be a fight over the orphaned grizzly cubs the zoo took in this spring. 70 scientists and conservationists from all over the world have petitioned for Alberta Fish and Wildlife to see the cubs rehabilitated and released rather than be sent to another zoo.

Conservation group wants Calgary Zoo's 3 orphaned grizzly cubs rehabilitated, released to wild - LiveWire Calgary
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The "conservation group" cited seems to be a rather loose congregation of people and I therefore have some reservations as to their expertise and experience in any bear recovery and rehabilitation programs.

I would also like to underline that the scientific evidence from the Alberta Grizzly Bear Recovery Project has shown over 30% of relocated bears die following relocation, either by the move to unfamiliar habitat, competition with resident and territorial bears and continued human-wildlife conflicts. It does not support any large scale rehab - and it is a given there is only 1 facility able to do this (and over a large span of years only 27 bears have been rehabilitated - what that means in terms of post release monitoring and survival is not reported upon).
 
Calgary Zoo is opening the Brawn Family Foundation Bugtopia, a brand-new playground that opens in a few days and is themed around bugs. The new development is in the Canadian Wilds section of the zoo and there are 5 photos of the playground on the link below. I think that it looks great and it will be a fantastic, popular addition to the zoo.

The Brawn Family Foundation Bugtopia | Calgary Zoo
 
Oh my god that playground looks amazing! All zoos should do playgrounds with that level of detail and theming! Sure run of the mill, boring school and park style playgrounds get the job done but something this cool is going to draw families back time and time again. I'm sure the expense will be well worth it.
 
The zoo is offering virtual tours. A week before the tour you can ask a bunch of questions and an educator will build your tour around that so it's more tailored then a generic tour. Sounds like a cool way to let people tour without being there. Really would have been cool if they could have got the idea up and running in time to exploit schools end of year field trips which couldn't happen. But if successful could open up a new market even post pandemic. Not all schools and camps for example can travel to the zoo so this is a neat compromise. Someone was really thinking.

Virtual Safari | Calgary Zoo

Woodland caribou, Vanilla, gave birth to a female calf just in time for Canada Day.
 
20 of the zoo's head start burrowing owls which were released this spring have all had successful clutches. Their chicks are about to fledge.

17 Vancouver Island Marmots were born this year, with most slated for release. These pups include the last litter of pups born to father Hendo who passed away not long after.

8 new Chilean flamingos have joined their flock. The adult females have arrived to bring more of a gender balance to the flock. The possible new pairings could result in more chicks if they decided to breed.

An escape room like experience called Locked Zoo and a photo experience called Focused are available at the zoo.

Calgary Zoo Launches Exceptional Summer Experiences: Locked Zoo & Focused Are Back! | Calgary Zoo
 
Ostrich, Lucy, has died. At 28 years old her arthritis finally decreased her quality of life to the point the zoo felt it was best to put her down. She exceeded the average lifespan of an ostrich by 18 years.
 
Here's an interesting article about the panda situation. The author says no one knows who the bamboo supplier of the pandas is since no known Canadian grower could supply enough bamboo. Apparently the zoo is waiting on the Chinese to ship them back but Environment Canada offered to place them at another zoo. Toronto being the only obvious option as it has a panda facility and they could probably rework the deal with FedEx and Memphis Zoo to get the bamboo. Honestly why that wasn't suggested as an option for Calgary to just swing themselves I don't know. The article raises questions with no actual answers. Little frustrating on that end because it just makes the zoo sound like it can't figure things out and they are too incompetent to keep the pandas.

Returning them to Toronto would be hard because that exhibit is now home to 2 Amur tigers. That would mean other zoos would have to take them, putting them closer to capacity. And I don't know that Toronto would want to pick up the hefty bill for the pandas again for the next 3 years. They already got all they could out of the pandas from a profit standpoint. It would tie up a lot of funds the zoo is now looking at focusing on other projects.

When not to pay a ransom - Macleans.ca
 
TZFan said:
Here's an interesting article about the panda situation. The author says no one knows who the bamboo supplier of the pandas is since no known Canadian grower could supply enough bamboo. Apparently the zoo is waiting on the Chinese to ship them back but Environment Canada offered to place them at another zoo. Toronto being the only obvious option as it has a panda facility and they could probably rework the deal with FedEx and Memphis Zoo to get the bamboo. Honestly why that wasn't suggested as an option for Calgary to just swing themselves I don't know. The article raises questions with no actual answers. Little frustrating on that end because it just makes the zoo sound like it can't figure things out and they are too incompetent to keep the pandas.

Returning them to Toronto would be hard because that exhibit is now home to 2 Amur tigers. That would mean other zoos would have to take them, putting them closer to capacity. And I don't know that Toronto would want to pick up the hefty bill for the pandas again for the next 3 years. They already got all they could out of the pandas from a profit standpoint. It would tie up a lot of funds the zoo is now looking at focusing on other projects.

When not to pay a ransom - Macleans.ca
Click to expand...
The whole thing is turning into a very embarrassing episode for Canadian zoos, I am sorry to say. I wish it were otherwise but Toronto and Calgary are amongst the "richer" local major zoos and somehow it seems the 10-year Giant Panda deal is falling through.
 
Toronto did it's part just fine. It housed the pandas for its 5 years. There was no issue feeding them. No health problems of note. It successfully bred the pandas and raised two healthy twins. Sure if they had been given older pandas instead of two immature ones they could have had at least one more pregnancy but that's on the Chinese for picking those two pandas. Much the accidental choice of two females because the Chinese miss took Er Shun as a male until preshipment medical assessments. The only real embarrassment I can remember is when guests chose to ignore a closed gate and touch Da Mao but even then closed doors and gates shouldn't need to be locked, people should have common sense. Calgary is the one falling threw with a fishy and weak sounding supply plan for the bamboo. However let's be fair. I don't think the vast majority of us ever expected a pandemic that would be as devastating to literally everything as covid has been. They done a number of things right. They have built a beautiful exhibit that put Toronto's to shame simply because it is that nice, not that Toronto's was garbage. They got the twins separated from Er Shun and back to China even though there was a delay that just sounded like a glitch on someone else's side because they had them ready on time.

I think the article I posted is perhaps a little unfair to Calgary. It gives the impression, at least to me, that Calgary is incompetent. I don't think that is the case. They maybe were a little unrealistic in thinking that relying almost solely on shipments of bamboo from China. I don't know why they didn't do some kind of deal with Memphis, San Diego, Atlanta or the National Zoo all of whom have pandas and could have supply to help feed the pandas. And with a five year head start Toronto didn't get I'm sure that if any of the others had needed time to expand their supply it could have been done. But to say they should have done that is unfair because we have the benefit of knowing a pandemic was coming that would cripple the world. Could they have planned better? Sure. Should they have? That's harder to answer.

The driving forces behind the request to send the pandas back are probably more complex then just the food issue. The zoo is probably pushing that to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. Finances are probably just about as much a consideration. The pandemic has financially devastated zoos. That extended closure came during a horrible time of the year. Middle of a Canadian winter, no problem, attendance is low. Pandemic in the spring, devastating, its the start of the highest attendance window generating the most revenue. They lost out on all of the end of year field trips bringing in hundreds of kids a day. They lost out on people wanting to get out after a long cold winter. They missed out on the beginning of summer hoards. And even when they could open during the summer, the busiest time of year, they had to limit attendance and people have been reluctant to visit in the numbers they used to. While revenue dried up then restarted at barely a trickle they still have the same costs as if people have been attending at usual levels. When you start looking at the budget on vastly decreased funds you have to start where you can make the most gains. They have two giant pandas costing them $2 million a year, more if cubs are born this fall (could explain China's reluctance to take them back just yet). Then their is the cost of their feed and insurance. The panda's have already brought them the most money in terms of visits that they were going to. Unless cubs are born they are about to enter year three where they are not nearly as profitable as the first year was and what the second year should have been. It just might not make financial sense to keep them especially because next summer could be as rough depending on how the pandemic is going.

The only other zoo that might have the resources to take the panda's in Canada is Granby. They were originally considering being part of a 15 year deal for the pandas. It would be Toronto for 2013-2018 then Calgary would take 2018-2023 and then Granby would bring up the rear with 2023-2028. They backed out when they realized they would be getting geriatric pandas. They would benefit from the boom the first years but it would be unlikely they would get subsequent booms from cubs. Not to mention they had to consider they may have to pay the financial penalty for one or both panda's dying of old age while on their watch. Just didn't make sense for them. They have not financially planned for the pandas since those initial conversations and don't have an exhibit ready to house them. I don't think any zoo in North America is probably in shape right now to take on a pair of pandas unplanned.

I just hope the Chinese agree to take them back soon before the supply issues put the panda's lives at risk because that becomes a PR nightmare for everyone.
 
Thank you for this information, TZFan. Another example that ref. Giant Pandas, China has more interest in financial profit then in ex-situ conservation. I can absolutely understand now why Granby was stepping back. Although I personally like seeing Giant Pandas in our (= Western) zoos, I'm happy that my local zoo isn't involved in that "business"...
 
@TZFan, generally we are in agreement in most of our discussions and chats. Where in this instance, I do beg to differ is that from the outset the PR China Giant Panda deals are a contract venture with 10 conservation funding investment over 10 years. That is clean and clear to all foreign zoos going into this deal. However, the buck does not stop there it also requires specified and accredited accommodation for housing a panda pair as well as the building investment plus on top the food bills over 10 years for the animal feed, in particular the bamboo as well as storage on site to keep it somewhat fresh (honestly flying it in and having it harvested in PR China: no cheaper options locally available?). All that investment is a massive undertaking and something not a lot of zoos can or are willing to afford. So, once you delve into it you are in it at the deep end and it is not an option to just opt out at the second year for some unforeseen event or disaster. It is just not to be.

I just wonder how well Calgary Zoo management thought the whole process through from year 1 up to year 5 and return of the giant pandas to PR China at the end of it?????
 
@Kifaru Bwana, I do agree the Canadian deal with the Chinese was funky. Neither zoo felt they had the ability to house pandas for a 10 year deal so it was either split the pandas time or both cities lose out. I can't speak for Calgary but I know that most zoo staff were dead set against the deal in Toronto. They would have preferred all that investment be used on the animals they already had and bringing in possibly other long term animals at a fraction of the cost. Thankfully the first half went smoothly.

Calgary did in retrospect make an unwise choice in sourcing the majority if not all their bamboo from China. A pandemic was a surprise and its fall out has been enromous but even without it I think it still would have been a more unpredictable proposition to source the bamboo from overseas. Political situations pop up. There could be transport problems with companies involved. Seems more sensible to source it from within North America where there are probably less potential problems. And I do find it funny that they haven't been able to find a back up source within North America. Yes the border is closed but goods still come a cross the border every day. Why aren't they talking to Memphis which clearly has the supply ability to feed 6 pandas because it fed 4 and then 6 quiet well over the course of 5 years. Zoos help other zoos and while it might be a logistics nightmare I bet if they put our a call to the other zoos in the US the could get what they need probably from multiple sources. Calgary isn't blameless. But it also isn't totally to blame.

The zoo probably looked at the standard panda economics when they considered joining Toronto in a bid for the pandas. Without a pandemic the whole deal would have likely gone smoothly. Toronto had been a little overly optimistic about the numbers they would see but not so bad that it was a disaster. They did alright even with a strike but that even was just a month. Calgary has been hit with quite and unlucky blow. They are not alone in a bad year to house pandas. All of the other zoos who have them are hurting the same. Where they are alone is in not planning the best for the supply of bamboo. However if we had looked at their bamboo plans in 2013 when the pandas arrived in Canada or even 2018 when they arrive in Calgary its harder to fault the plan not knowing something this catastrophic was coming. Those plans might have made the most sense for a variety of reason which no longer apply. I truly do find it perplexing though that Toronto and Calgary didn't just both enter a deal with FedEx and Memphis Zoo. Seems to me like approaching both with a 10 year contract might provide for more bargaining power.

I'd just like this situation over with for the pandas sake. If Calgary really can't feed them then they need to go home to China ASAP so their is no risk to their health. And if Calgary can feed them then stop squawking about it and take care of your pandas and own up to your commitment to your deal. Just figure it out and get whatever needs to be done done. Next time Calgary wants pandas the Chinese need to remember this situation and really think hard if they should have the pandas.
 
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