The Toronto Zoo - A Grand Opening Remembered

When the Metro Toronto Zoo opened its 710 acre “zoogeographic” zoo on August 15^th, 1974 it was, I believe, ahead of its time. No other zoo took the zoogeographic theme (organized around groups of animals from the same parts of the world) to the level of the Toronto Zoo. Its huge continental areas of Indomalaya, Africa, the Americas, and Eurasia had sprawling, outdoor animal exhibits and each area had an indoor pavilion that was a combination zoo, aquarium, museum, and botanical garden. It would be another ten years before other zoos began to catch up, with the opening of large indoor facilities like the Bronx Zoo’s Jungle World.

I had been working there for nearly a year when the Toronto Zoo opened, and I have long been puzzled about why I have no recollection of the opening celebration. It was the day we had all been working toward and, yet, it is as though I was never there. Then, as I looked back on my diary and notes, it hit me. I was too busy working.

In the days leading up to the grand opening, I was a senior keeper in the Americas section of the zoo. This included an indoor pavilion, a large polar bear complex with underwater viewing, and a South America paddock. The pavilion was largely underground and it held the most diverse collection of animals a senior zookeeper could be expected to care for, including mammals (beavers, otters, cacomistle), birds (band-tailed pigeons, native song birds, waterfowl), reptiles (alligators, rattlesnakes), and fishes. In the days and weeks leading up to opening, and especially on opening day itself, we were frantically preparing exhibits and receiving animals.

The fish had been in their tanks for a month or so, but most of the animals we were receiving had been quarantined and stockpiled at barns and holding facilities all over the region. On July 17^th, we received 1.1 (1 male and 1 female) cacomistles from the Claremont barn and 4.2 armadillos from the south service building. On the 19^th, it was a Mississauga rattlesnake that was donated and four alligators from Toronto’s soon-to-close Riverdale Zoo. On the 23^rd, we received two band-tailed pigeons and on the 29^th, one opossum and three young alligators from Riverdale. On July 31^st, we received a large alligator from Riverdale, a jaguarondi from Claremont, three skunks, fourteen quail of three different species from Kirkham’s barn, two fox snakes, seven box turtles, and a diamond-backed terrapin. The next day, on August 1^st, we received a huge alligator, eighteen song birds, and an otter. We were scrambling to get animals introduced to their new accommodations and to each other. And when opening day came and went, our challenges continued with one day running into the next. It was, I am told, quite an event those forty years ago – and I was there. I just wish I had seen it!

Political Animals

Once again, a government body is deciding whether its local zoo or aquarium should be permitted to keep a species of animal. Last year, it was the Toronto City Council weighing in on the issue of elephants at the Toronto Zoo. The Council, made up of people with no particular expertise in the matter, voted to get out of the elephant business and send the Zoo’s three African elephants to a sanctuary in California.

More recently, two members of the U.S. House from California have proposed a federal study on the impact of captivity on large marine animals, while the California State Assembly was unable to decide on proposed a bill to end killer-whale shows and discontinue orca captivity in the State.

Now, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation is holding public hearings on the pros and cons of having captive cetaceans (whales) at the Vancouver Aquarium. The aquarium not only wants to continue keeping whales and dolphins, it also plans to invest $100 million dollars in facility upgrades. According to media reports, more than a hundred people have signed up to speak in what will no doubt be a series of emotionally charged public forums. No less an authority than Jane Goodall has already sent a letter to the Park Board in opposition to the Aquarium’s position. It is hard to argue with the opposition. Whales in the wild roam hundreds of square miles of open ocean. How can we possibly justify keeping them in swimming pools the size of an average suburban yard?

But, if we pass laws prohibiting the keeping of whales, what will happen to those animals that are rescued and cannot survive in the wild? Are we really saying they are better off dead as some zoo & aquarium critics say? And who will be making those decisions, zoo and aquarium professionals, animal rights activists who oppose zoos and aquariums altogether, or politicians who have no expertise whatsoever? Who are the real winners and losers in these public, political debates about animals in captivity? At some point, in all the heated rhetoric, you have to wonder if it is still about the animals.

Is this the end of the modern zoo?

Writer @benwallacewells steals a bit of my thunder in his recent article The Case for the End of the Modern Zoo ( http://t.co/XzoTpN42pR ). One of the central questions of my next book and of the project I have proposed to the folks at National Geographic for their Expedition Granted program (http://bit.ly/1jITOd1 ) asks some fundamental questions about the future of zoos, aquariums, and marine parks. 

Now, I don’t for one moment believe we need to do away with them. But I do suspect that zoos, aquariums, and marine parks may be at a cross-roads and may need to make some fundamental changes in the way they do business. Perhaps they will need to reconsider how (and whether) they keep certain animals – like killer whales, elephants, polar bears, and apes. Perhaps it is time for a rational discussion that explores what is truly best for the animals, asking who is right – the zoos and marine parks who want to keep doing business as usual, or the people who are lining up to shut them down altogether?  The answer, I suspect, lies somewhere in between as Wells suggests:  “In 25 years, there will likely still be some way for Americans to see exotic animals. But I will be pretty surprised if those places have cages, mirrors, smoke machines, and conference-room tanks for 12,000-pound whales. There may be nature preserves. But it seems to me that we're pretty rapidly reaching the end of the era of the modern urban zoo.”   I wonder if he will be proven correct?

A National Geographic Expedition Granted Project

A Voice for Animal Welfare

 If we could create an authoritative, international voice for animal welfare, while ensuring continuing support for zoos, marine parks, and aquariums as indispensable partners in conservation, would you be interested in participating? I know, it sounds like a pipe-dream – along the lines of world peace, human equality, or ending poverty – but it just seems like such a worthy cause. That is what my project at National Geographic is all about. http://expeditiongranted.nationalgeographic.com/project/the-search-for-eden-project/

Here is what makes this project unique – we will not be asking for money! There are already enough “conservation” organizations out there asking for money. This movement is about intellectual capital. It is about raising consciousness.

How about filling out this short survey and let’s see where it goes:

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DAo4TzNjs1p5oQ7rBib9Gl3VQ0t3G7iFUypFvTbsGvI/viewform?usp=send_form   

The Search for Eden Project

 Zoos, Aquariums, and Animal Welfare

When it comes to zoos and aquariums and the welfare of their animals, it seems that everyone has an opinion. There are those who support them – more than 700 million yearly visitors worldwide. And those who oppose them – look at the furor stirred up last year over the movie about killer whales and the recent killing of a healthy giraffe at a Danish zoo

 So, should we do away with zoos and aquariums or is their contribution to public enlightenment and to conservation just too compelling? In the United States alone, zoos and aquariums have spent more than a billion dollars on field conservation projects over the last 10 years. Who else can say that?

I would like to explore this issue in some detail, visiting cities in North America and Europe and talking to the people at the center of this controversy – the zoo keepers, the animal rights activists, and the public at-large.  The goal of the project is to begin a rational discussion that explores what is truly best for the animals. I will explore these issues and set up an ongoing, international forum for discussion – a discussion that will take place via social media and a series of on-line seminars. I would also like to develop a think-tank of people with open minds, clear thinking, long-term vision, and compassion for animals to come together with a common purpose – to preserve animal populations that are at the mercy of the relentless advance of human civilization. 

  

A Vision for the Future of Animals in Captivity

Perhaps we can develop standards of protection similar to the United Nations’ Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples (which protects the rights and dignities of those human populations that cannot defend themselves) while ensuring that the valuable contributions of zoos, marine parks, and aquariums are honored and supported. .

How do we stop the decline of species on a planet that is hungry for human space? I don’t have all of the answers, but I want to ask the questions.