Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Developments 2023

cypher

cypher

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
New Year continues with lots of construction going on at the zoo. Mostly small and mid-sized projects, but there are a few big ones ongoing. So, I’m just going to go through what I noticed during my visit today.

Entrance to the Indo-Malayan Pavilion is blocked off with construction. So, the exit is being used as an entrance/exit for now. I’m wondering if this construction is related to the planned O-Line for the Orangutans. Makes sense as I believe the plans called for a post to be at the entrance of the Pavilion before heading out to the post near the Malayan Woods (planned brewery). As I mentioned the Pavilion is still accessible. I went as far as the Orangutans indoor exhibit, so I’m not sure what else is open in the Pavilion, but I did see people at the window viewing looking into the Orangutan exhibit. That leads me to believe the entire Pavilion is still open.

Biggest construction project currently ongoing is the hill from the Savanna to the Americas Pavilion. There is no access to this hill. This means the zoo is effectively broken up into 2 sections. From the entrance you can go left or right. Right takes you to Tundra, Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas Pavilion. Left takes you to Indo-Maya, African Rainforest and the Savanna. There’s nothing connecting the 2 sections. So, you’ll have to backtrack through the entrance plaza to visit the other side if you wish. An inconvenience for sure, but it’ll be worth it when the new hill is complete, making it less steep and AODA compliant.

I was surprised to see the progress made on the Amur Tiger expansion. For those unfamiliar, the plan is to add a third exhibit space behind the main exhibit. The fencing looks to be all up and the overall space is comparable, maybe bigger than the main Amur Tiger exhibit. Work is still being down for sure, but it’s interesting to see how it turns out. See photo in below link.

Amur Tiger Exhibit

Last notable construction project I noticed is Australasia. A majority of the outdoor aviary is cleaned out and looking good. The entrance to Australasia is closed due to this construction, so I’m guessing access to the Pavilion will have to be through the exit into the Great Barrier Reef area. Can’t say for sure, as I skipped out on this Pavilion.

Australasia Pavilion Cleanup
 
Wow! so much happening but all for the better, I was planning on going this week but I am afraid of the icy roads. I can't believe that the Amur Tiger exhibit has been making big strides since I last saw it. With only the fencing posts in. I must say that these are all improvements we wanted to see since 2019 at least when the Amur Tigers came back. As well I'm happy about the boardwalk.
 
The road aren't icy at all in Toronto, at least nothing I have noticed.

I was shocked to see so much work done on the Amur Tiger exhibit as well. I wonder if the pathway will be extended around the side of the exhibit for more viewing opportunities, because right now, it's limited viewing points.

The Core Wood Boardwalk will be an over all improvement for sure. It was a steep hill and quite slippery when wet.
 
The zoo will most likely see a price increase due to the new city budget. The exact amounts haven't been provided yet, and the budget has yet to be approved. Below is an excerpt from the article.

"The cost of Toronto Zoo admission would increase significantly for most types of tickets. The cost of a children’s peak period ticket would see the biggest increase, 25.63 per cent over 2022 — an increase of about five dollars a ticket.

The cost of Zoo Camp would also climb, as much as $85 per week for non-members."

See the full article below, although the above excerpt is all that mentions the zoo.

Street permit parking, zoo admission among Toronto user fees set to spike
 
I really hope the ticket price doesn't go up too high, I don't want my annual visit to become too much more expensive... I also hope the new boardwalk is finished by the time I go on this year's zoo trip too, but then again, I always go at the same time each year--surely it should be ready by the end of September, I figure.
 
I was looking a bit at the master plan linked in the other thread; curious about how they’ll manage plants to blend in the barriers/fencing for specific exhibits.
Is Canadian Domain fully get replaced as well once the species there phase out? Lightly read that part and I remember seeing “untapped potential”.
 
@Aelita the domain is to be fully replaced by Wilderness North. It has long been recognized that putting the domain down that hill was a mistake. Even the previous master plan called for it to be moved. Without the monorail the domain has been under appreciated and kinda neglected. The domain is untapped potential though. Once the Canadian stock is moved to Wilderness North they could easily use former exhibit spaces as room for breeding facilities. It would afford the zoo more flexibility when it comes to hoofstock or to help provide quiet breeding space for native species and allow the offsprings to grow up as wild as possible for potential release. That though is just the most logical use of the space in my mind. Untapped potential could mean many things including setting up guest facilities down there to enjoy a sort of camping experience within the city, or just do nature trails ect. Whether the maglev is actually built probably will impact what they ultimately decide to do. If its there then they can do whatever they want with it because there will be accessible transport down there. Without the maglev then the zoo would be best to put zoo facilities down there and not allow guests so they dont have to spend a fortune making it accessible.
 
For those interested, the schedule for the Board Meeting on February 17th is up.

Points of interest:

Awarding tender to start Roof Replacement & Skylight Repairs at Caribou Café, Africa Restaurant, as well as the Hyena and Hippo holdings.

Awarding tender to begin Design/Build the Wildebeest holding, which is expected to finish end of 2023. Interestingly enough, only 1 proposal was submitted for this project.


Toronto City Council
 
@cypher, it might not be that they only got one bid for the wildebeest or any other project. Sometimes sure but the bids need to meet the zoos requirements. Others might have submitted bids that failed in some capacity like coming in over budget.
 
True, but the document say that this was the only bid that was received. And it actually came in over the the budget by nearly $200K. Beside that, it met all other requirements for the project.
 
Lol I guess I should have clearly read the document. I didnt have any plans so I skipped right over it. I like when we get plans to look over. These were different though because they were all bid approvals.
 
I took a look at the Toronto Zoo portions of the city budget that was passed yesterday to see if there was anything interesting. Apparently the Zoo was only able to spend $15.8 or 69.2% of it's 2022 approved capital budget. Most of this is getting deferred into 2023 and 2024 - but the primary driver were due to supplier delays - which is likely going to have an impact on completion dates etc. for the big projects. I snipped a couple of the primary tables/appendices if anyone is interested (and posted the links to the full documents).

I was particularly interested to see the expected capital outlays for the front entrance which are forecasted into 2024 and 2025, and more excited to see the Savanna indoor winter holding and viewing project is forecast to have the design completed in 2024, with construction starting in 2025 and completing in 2026.

I know that's still a long way off (relatively speaking), so things will still change, but that's the project I'm probably most excited for until Wilderness North which is still too far away to get that emotionally invested in.

Budget Notes, Reports & Presentations
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-230727.pdf
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-230728.pdf

There were also some changes to the expected spend on some of the capital projects. I wonder how the reductions might impact the planned projects we cared about in the $19.8M, considering we already knew some of those projects were going away (Rhino Ridge and Ravens Roost at least from my recollection?). So some of it sounds like "taking" from projects that were already cut - but it's still a big chunk of change that has to come from something.

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I suspect more of this will come out of the Board meeting tomorrow - it'll be interesting to see if they add any colour to the reports in the live meeting.
 

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After glancing over the documents, looks like @Zooer got the most interesting tidbits listed. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of Welcome Area project once the final design is completed later this year. If we're lucky, we might get interesting changes overall.
 
I think we'd all be happy to see Sea Otters return as the headlining species in the Welcome Area. Now, the initial reason for the removal of the Sea Otters was that they were too expensive. So, with added funds, there is a chance that we could see them return, but that's very very low. The funds are most likely needed for the increase of inflation. But one can hope.
 
Hello all! Hope everyone is well!

Sat in on the board meeting this afternoon - it was a quick one - but we got some great updates and confirmations from CEO Dolf - who is absolutely the best ever to do it at the Toronto Zoo!

- the core woods boardwalk will be ready for March break!

- the splash island washroom renovation will be completed for the summer season!

- the outdoor orang habitat (Dolf called it habitat #1) will be opening the last week of March - which should give the orangs, staff, volunteers and members all time to adjust before it opens to the public

- the conservation campus will break ground later this year!

- Amur Tiger Mila will be leaving in March

- a baby Bactrian Camel is due in April

- the new southern ground hornbill chick is doing well, and so is Amur Tiger Mazy who recently underwent a check up in the health center (she is 15 years old!)

- Gabriela Mastromonaco, the zoos amazing reproductive biologist, is currently in Elk Island National Park collecting wild Wood Bison semen samples - which has huge implications for the zoo herds future!

Take care fellow chatters!
 
Thanks for summarizing! Just one question (and I only was able to stay the first 30 minutes). I heard Dolf say that habitat #1 for the orangs would open the last week of June. Did I mishear? Or did he clarify after I left that it would be opening the last week of March and available to the public in the last week of June?
 
@Zooer no worries at all! Dolf confirmed that the habitat will be opening to the public the last week of June.

Dolf followed up by mentioning that the o-line pole in front of the Indo-Malaya pavilion, which will greet visitors, will be installed in the next few weeks. He also confirmed that there will be two poles to begin with on that side of the pavilion - one in front of the pavilion, and one down near the rhinos! It'll be interesting to see where the front poles connect with the pavilion. I wonder if the orangs who are inside might have access to those poles, and the ones who are outside would have access to Habitat #1 and the new, indoor research center? I don't want to speculate; luckily we are only a few months away from finding out!

Cheers!
 
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