Stanley Park Zoo

Thanks for posting that link, as it brought back memories of the long closed zoo. I went there as a kid and I can remember seeing monkeys and pinnipeds together and that was a bizarre mixed-species exhibit for any era! The polar bear grottoes are still in existence, literally meters away from the entrance to the Vancouver Aquarium, and there are photos in the ZooChat gallery of the empty enclosures. Everything else from the Stanley Park Zoo has been demolished.
 
No problem Snowleopard. I saw this article and actually thought of you in particular. I like articles which show us how things used to be. Really makes me appreciate the amazing exhibits we see all over the world today. Yet the sad fact is there are still far too many small zoos just like this or so much worse.

Monkeys and pinnipeds... bizarre really does describe it. Do you remember what species they were? Were they at least species from the same general place in the world? Not many monkey/pinniped overlaps... if really any.

My family went to Stanley Park when I was in my teens and I remember hearing there was an old zoo there that had been closed. I wanted to go see it but we were on the worlds worst tour, which we bailed on somewhere in Vancouver but unfortunately not in Stanley Park so we could go see it. We did make it to the aquarium but I don't think we knew it was that close and could have taken a peak. Pretty sure my parents would have satisfied my curiosity if they had know.
 
Something that's always surprised me, the Stanley Park Zoo also has probably one of *the* most interesting penguin collections in North America.

At one point in time, they housed the following species all at once:

Emperor Penguin
King Penguin
Humboldt Penguin
Magellanic Penguin
Galapagos Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
Macaroni Penguin

They also housed Rockhopper, and possibly Royal penguins at one point or another.
 
Wow! That is an impressive list even with just the ones we are used to seeing but Emperors, Galapagos and maybe Royals is so cool! What a sight that would have been to see.

If either of you know more about this long ago zoo I would love to learn more about it. Whatever tidbits you remember and could share would be so interesting.
 
Hyak_II said:
Something that's always surprised me, the Stanley Park Zoo also has probably one of *the* most interesting penguin collections in North America.

At one point in time, they housed the following species all at once:

Emperor Penguin
King Penguin
Humboldt Penguin
Magellanic Penguin
Galapagos Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
Macaroni Penguin

They also housed Rockhopper, and possibly Royal penguins at one point or another.
Click to expand...
I really would welcome a zoo and/or consortium of zoos invest in creating a regional program for Galapagos penguins, a globally threatened species with a rather tiny total population as an insurance / captive assurance colony. Maybe ALPZA or even an AZA outlasting?
 
There is a photograph on the link below that shows what looks like at least a dozen spider monkeys, plus there is a description (and two further photos below) that mention harbour seals and 4 California sea lions...all together!

Postcard: Seal and Monkey Island, Stanley Park Zoo, 1960s

This article talks about how the penguins were fed dog food, and that the polar bear grotto opened in 1962.

YOU SHOULD KNOW | More About The Stanley Park Zoo, A Vancouver Institution Until 1996

I can recall seeing a herd of at least a half-dozen American bison, an extremely small Reptile House, a children's farm area, etc. and some of the exhibits were directly next to the Vancouver Aquarium. It's still remarkable to walk by the 1962 polar bear grotto on an average aquarium visit, as the last polar bear died in 1997 and yet for almost a quarter-century the grotto has sat empty.
 
That stuff was so neat to see, especially the video in the second link. Thanks for sharing snowleopard.

The video seemed to show gibbons in with the spider monkeys and capuchins too.

Definitely an interesting stroll into the past.
 
TZFan said:
Neat little video is in here of the zoo in 1959. Need to skip ahead to about the 6 minute mark. Thank god zoos have come a long way since then.

Vernon historian finds footage of Vancouver airport and Stanley Park Zoo from 1959 - Vernon News
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the video link.

I visited the Stanley Park Zoo in summer 1989, and it looked the same as it had in 1959. The bear cages had been replaced by the polar bear grotto that still exists, but the same shabby monkey cages, penguin pool, and bizarre pinniped-monkey complex were there, only decayed.

It was a weird contrast to have a world-class aquarium with a small messy slum of a zoo directly outside of it. It was no wonder that the Vancouverites decided to just shut down the zoo and clear it out in the 1990s. There was nothing there worth preserving, and building a new zoo would have meant a complete tear down and starting from scratch.
 
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