Pandas, Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue, have returned to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. Giant panda cubs leave for China following stint at Calgary Zoo
The zoo is cancelling all large events. • Safari Sunday Brunch on March 15; watch for additional brunch updates • Easter Eggstravaganza • Member Inspire and Member Engage Events • May the Fourth Be With Zoo Planted Kingdom, in partnership with PlantedYYC, is also being postponed to a later date. Guest will only be allowed in primarily outdoor spaces so they can stay further apart.
The zoo is asking for donations to help with the financial crunch due to the closure. They are concerned that they may have to cut back on conservation programs to help compensate for losses. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-zoo-financial-crisis-1.5533261
Dear Mr. Prime Minister Trudeau and the State Secretary for the Environment please taken action and indemnify the zoos and aquarium within Canada to do their important ex situ captive-breeding and in situ conservation work. Not too much to ask?!
The zoo is donating 12000 tickets to front line workers as a way to say thank you for all they do. Good for the zoo for stepping up even though they have been through such a huge financial hit themselves to think of the front line workers first. Just amazing. Coronavirus: Calgary Zoo donates 12,000 entry tickets to essential staff working through the pandemic
The zoo is now serving as a temporary home to 3 orphaned grizzly bear cubs. There mother was most likely killed. The cubs are going to be available for adoption by another North American zoo. Trio of grizzly cubs arrive at the Calgary Zoo
I dearly wonder what that "aggressive encounter with humans" really was. Media never seem to take into their stride that a female bear might equal a number of cubs .... (going ... or just in time become orphans)?!?
She was probably out and about with her cubs. Stumbled across a human. Defended her cubs as she is hard wired to do and should do. The person probably had a gun and shot "at her" and then they found orphaned cubs. If she had harmed a human it would have been titled differently and focused on an attack. Human bear interactions rarely end well for the bear and in this case her precious cubs.
In other words the human in question should not have been there ...?!? Sorry states we are living in.
The zoo has been forced into returning pandas, Da Mao and Er Shun to China due to the covid 19. It has destroyed their bamboo supply chain and the zoo simply cannot get enough bamboo to keep the pandas going. They will be returned to China so there will be no concerns about being able to feed them. Bye-bye bears: Calgary Zoo returning pandas to China due to bamboo barriers
Sad to see them go but if there welfare is in question then it's the only choice to make. I wonder if they will be reimbursed by China for the time lost.
I don't know they pay up front. I mean if they have cubs how could they? I suppose add the money as a cub arrives. Maybe they pay yearly. I think China would rather have them back than in a place where they struggle to feed them and could possibly lose them. If they haven't paid up for the pandas completely then returning them will save Calgary a bundle. The $1 million each rental fee and the costs associated with importing bamboo, plus cubs. And based on panda economics the zoo isn't really loosing that much. The first year pandas arrive they are a huge draw. Each following year interest drops. They get a boom each year a cub is born too but that is a hope not a guarantee because no cub could be born. They got the most out of it they were going to get unless a cub had been born. Even if they had to pay up front to get the loan the zoo still wins in not having to run the risk of a panda dying. If they got in a bad spot it could effect the health of them and there is a penalty for losing a panda on your watch. I just don't remember how that is structured. Also super bad press. They don't need that. No one does. I wonder when they will be able to get them back because there is a little issue beyond the whole Covid array of problems. Er Shun could be pregnant. Do they send her back now and risk losing a cubbing year? Do they send Da Mao first just to ease the bamboo pressure and wait and see what happens with Er Shun? My guess is they risk the pregnancy to just get them back because if she does give birth then the cub is particularly vulnerable for months and who knows when they judge it safe to return them. But just because there could be a pregnancy doesn't mean there is or that the move would cause Er Shun to reabsorb the embryo. Lots of moving parts.
The zoo will be reopening May 23 pending approval. Tickets will be sold online with scheduled admission. Guests are encouraged to stay 3 metres apart. Restaurants will be open with limited seating. The pandas will be off display as they have begun pre-departure quarantine. No departure date has been set. Coronavirus: Calgary Zoo to reopen on May 23 — but you won’t get to say bye to the giant pandas
Here's a little look at the number of guests allowed in the zoo. Parents and kids flock to Calgary Zoo for reopening day | The Guardian
4 otter pups were born in March to mom Kate and dad Finnegan. The boys have been named Fergus and Emmett while their sisters are Feist and Maeve.
Looks like there might be a fight over the orphaned grizzly cubs the zoo took in this spring. 70 scientists and conservationists from all over the world have petitioned for Alberta Fish and Wildlife to see the cubs rehabilitated and released rather than be sent to another zoo. Conservation group wants Calgary Zoo's 3 orphaned grizzly cubs rehabilitated, released to wild - LiveWire Calgary
A Gentoo penguin chick has hatched: Calgary Zoo announces birth of gentoo penguin chick The zoo says the chick, which hatched on June 3, belongs to first-time parents Georgia and Cooper, and is the first gentoo penguin to hatch at the zoo in three years.
