JMANPROJECT88
Well-Known Member
A picture is worth a 1000 words, or I should say a video, which was filmed this summer at Bowmanville zoo....
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Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo New Animals, Departures and Deaths 2012
- Thread starter kknudsen
- Start date
A picture is worth a 1000 words, or I should say a video, which was filmed this summer at Bowmanville zoo....
It was deemed too expensive (minimum 19 million) to keep the elephant program going in Toronto because of both the weather and its imapct on the elephants and the enormous cost that building a brand new state of the art elephant facility for elephants who need to spend a great deal of the winter inside. Once our currnent elephants leave it will probably be the end of the elephant program forever. The current plan seems to be to remodel the current elephant barn and exhibit to house the giraffes and expand and improve the hippo exhibit. For the giraffes the new space is desperately needed since the current barn is in bad repair and can house very few animals. By moving the the elephant barn the herd can be expanded (very important since we are down to just two older females) and have a ton more room for winter housing. Its also been suggested the giraffes could be part of a mix species exhibit which would be awesome. And the giraffes old exhibit will be remodeled for additional hoofed stock. Both things will likely result in new species for the zoo. The hippos barn is in similar shape also having been built for the zoos opening. We currently have 3 older hippos who are all siblings and if the zoo plans to breed in the future a new facility with room for breeding and surplus animals is needed. So while it will be sad to see our elephants go, it will result in a lot of good for our hippos and giraffes. Personally I hope the giraffes get a feeding station like other zoos are embracing and underwater viewing for the hippos.
A nice new hippo house with underwater viewing for more then one small compatible group will cost Toronto approximatly the same as a new decent breeding elephant house.
Prague is opening two new animal houses for up to 10 elephants and 5 hippos and the construction expenses spent were split 3 : 2 between elephant and hippo house. Housing hippos in a decent manner is not significantly cheeper then to keep the same herd of elephants.
Prague is opening two new animal houses for up to 10 elephants and 5 hippos and the construction expenses spent were split 3 : 2 between elephant and hippo house. Housing hippos in a decent manner is not significantly cheeper then to keep the same herd of elephants.
Oh I'm quiet sure the improvements for both the giraffes and hippos will be costly. I probably over simplified my previous answer as to why the elephants were being retired by just mentioning the money. Money was likely a significant factor in the decision but there are a ton of contributing factors some of which we probably dont even know about. Some of the other big factors would be all the bad press the zoos recieved for the deaths of 4 elephants in a short period of time, annoying activists using every opportunity and excuse to bash the elephant program in the press and meddlesome city council who keep interfering where they probably should just leave things to the experts. Aslo our current herd sits at 3 older females who would need to be moved during the renos to another zoo and given their age left at their new home anyway to avoid having to stress them with a second move. That would mean the zoo would have to undergo a search for new younger animals to replace them and kick start a new breeding program. Considering the trend in North America to send northern elephants south to warmer climates that might have proved difficult unless importing from Africa which would entail its own problems including more bad press for the zoo as activists bash the zoo much like they did when San Diego Safari Park and Lowry Park imported their elephants a decade ago. Given all these problems it was probably just easier on the zoo to end the program and refocus the money needed to reno on the other animals.
While it probably costs just as much to reno the elephant and hippo facilities to improve the living space for the giraffes and hippos, its easier on to justify the expense on multiple animals. It would provide a home for not just the hippos and giraffes but also any additional animals they mix with the giraffes and the new hoofed stock which would go in the old giraffe exhibit. More bang for their buck than if they invested that in elephants alone.
And I dont know if underwater viewing or the giraffe feeding would be included in the exhibits. I would just love to see both of those things in the new exhibits. And based on the failure of the mixed species exhibit they did when the African Savannah first opened more then a decade ago and the recent attempt to house the gibbons and babirusa together, I cant even say for sure they would mix other animals in with the giraffes. I hope they do because thats the current trend and you get a more impressive exhibit thats far more realistic than single species exhibits.
While it probably costs just as much to reno the elephant and hippo facilities to improve the living space for the giraffes and hippos, its easier on to justify the expense on multiple animals. It would provide a home for not just the hippos and giraffes but also any additional animals they mix with the giraffes and the new hoofed stock which would go in the old giraffe exhibit. More bang for their buck than if they invested that in elephants alone.
And I dont know if underwater viewing or the giraffe feeding would be included in the exhibits. I would just love to see both of those things in the new exhibits. And based on the failure of the mixed species exhibit they did when the African Savannah first opened more then a decade ago and the recent attempt to house the gibbons and babirusa together, I cant even say for sure they would mix other animals in with the giraffes. I hope they do because thats the current trend and you get a more impressive exhibit thats far more realistic than single species exhibits.
Zoogoer2000
Well-Known Member
Touching on the whole failure of the African Savannah thing, could you expand on that further? The reason I ask is because I was quite young at the time of opening, and it comes across as you saying that the 3 exhibits were originally one, huge, renovated paddock.
arcticwolf
Well-Known Member
I'm almost positive that the African Savannah was always divided into 3 (4 if you count the sable antelopes) exhibits. I might be wrong because I was born the year the African Savannah opened, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right.
Sure thing. I dont know all the details or remember it all that well myself (I went away to university soon after the opening) but when the savannah opened in the late 1990's the large exhibit that currently houses the white rhinos, innitially had the rhinos, zebras, ostriches and gazelle, if I remember correctly. They stopped being housed together when one of the rhinos (a male I think), attacked and killed a zebra (a youngster I think). They didnt like the aggressive behaviour the rhinos were displaying and rather than risk any other animals the mixed exhibit was broken up. Although it might have been that they brought in a rhino that had killed a zebra before arriving. But maybe arcticwolf is right and they werent mixed when the new exhibits opened and if thats the case the death and seperation predated the savannah opening. Hard to remember that far back but I definitely remember hearing about after it happened.
If I remember right when I used to talk to the keepers before the opening they had wanted to move the giraffe over and add them into a mix exhibit but they were cut along with the hippos and elephants (to stay seperate) to save on expenses. They had also wanted to do something with the current penguin exhibit but I cant remember hearing about exact plans, i think in part because they hadnt decided what they wanted to do with the fur seals.
If I remember right when I used to talk to the keepers before the opening they had wanted to move the giraffe over and add them into a mix exhibit but they were cut along with the hippos and elephants (to stay seperate) to save on expenses. They had also wanted to do something with the current penguin exhibit but I cant remember hearing about exact plans, i think in part because they hadnt decided what they wanted to do with the fur seals.
arcticwolf
Well-Known Member
I know from pictures and videos that the rhinos, zebras, ostriches, and antelope were exhibited together before the African Savannah was renovated, so maybe that incident happened before and that's why all of the species are split up.