Edmonton Valley Zoo Edmonton Valley Zoo

I've talked to custom officials before apparently trying to get anything that even looks like a mongoose into the country is pretty difficult
 
The first babies of spring are now at the zoo!

Three male Takin have been born over the past week. Valley zoo's seems to be extremely successful with the species, and they regularly have multiple births every year.
 
Valley Zoo Development Society | Revitalization | Nature's Wild Backyard

Nature's Wild Backyard is a $45 million project that will open in several phases, as there is a lot of fundraising yet to do for the zoological society. The link above contains more information, including design images of potential exhibits. The gibbon enclosure appears to be unique and there will be a lot of small, popular mammals: red pandas, golden lion tamarins, agoutis, capybaras, beavers, meerkats, naked mole rats, etc.
 
Both female Grevy’s zebras are to breed so a new foal or two could be arriving in the next year or so.

A new snow leopard breeding pair will be formed when a young male from Akron arrives to breed with the younger female. Sherri and Kazi will stay on as non breeders.

The three banded armadillos are to breed. Twyla can breed with either male, Rio or Scrap.

Male Keas, Rondo and Newton, are getting a female who could breed with either of them from the Bronx.

Red pandas Pip and Kalden are to breed again. Son Tango will got to Winnipeg while their other son Kola is going to Cincinnati and daughter Willow will go to Prospect Park.
 
A few corrections here ;)

Zebra breeding will be a tad tough, as there aren't any males currently at the zoo.

A new male is planned to come in to bred with Indira, however Kazi will be transferred before this. The zoo can only house a maximum of three adult snow leopards.

All three Red Panda babies have already been transferred to other zoo's, roughly 2-3 months ago.

Newton is a younger, hand reared male, so it is very likely the new female will breed with Rondo, but you never know.
 
I was just using any ssp info printed in the last 12 months so so variation was possible.

With the zebras did Shaka die?
 
Yes, sadly he passed away a few months ago. He didn't get along the best with the females usually, but he was very good at fulfilling his intended purpose at the zoo, if you catch my drift. I'd go so far as to say that shaka might rear his head in some way or another other next year, but I'm just a simple zoochat poster, so who knows ;)
 
Oh that's too bad. Shaka was a good stallion for Toronto as well. He wasn't the best with others even in Toronto. I'm sure a new male will be sent up from the US shortly. He probably would have been replaced with Toronto's Luke for convenience but he too has died.
 
Edmonton Valley Zoo opened in 1959, was initially called Storyland Valley Zoo, and struggled for decades in terms of both funding, annual memberships and visitor apathy. In the recent history of the facility the number of visitors has risen from approximately 250,000 to more than 400,000 annually. Here is a very interesting interview (from 2015) with zoo director Denise Prefontaine about the transformation of the Edmonton Valley Zoo:

A River Runs Through It: the Wander Trail at Edmonton Valley Zoo blooloop

I grew up in Edmonton, visiting the zoo on a consistent basis, and when I went back for a tour in 2001 the zoo was in a shocking condition with many atrocious exhibits. Since then there has been a radical rejuvenation, beginning with the lemur complex called Makira Outpost. I went back again in 2012 and saw the fantastic pinniped area called Arctic Shores (2012) and then I was back again this week and viewed the unique and innovative Wander Trail that opened in 2014. That last section uses the North Saskatchewan River as a starting point and included in the project is a new entrance, entry plaza, education building, gift shop, cafe, river otter exhibit, trout pool, fake beaver dam and a "glacier melt play area" that my 4 kids spent almost an hour at.

There is a small stream that trickles its way through this amazing and hugely popular nature-based play area:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/40/1d/9e/401d9e43a60b0ea46d49a15f986a731c.jpg

Next up is Nature's Wild Backyard, a project that could easily cost $45 million, even though this blueprint map lists the cost at $25 million:

Nature's Wild Backyard at Edmonton Valley Zoo

There is a lot of information on the link below, including news of the 2018 debut of a Red Panda exhibit and Urban Farm zone:

Valley Zoo Development Society | Revitalization | Nature's Wild Backyard

When Nature's Wild Backyard is finished (current date is set at 2021) then the Edmonton Valley Zoo will have undergone a radical change in direction and my best estimate would be that 50% of what was once a dilapidated zoo will have been essentially built from scratch over a period of about 15 years.
 
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