Calgary Zoo Calgary Zoo news 2008-2011

I realize that there are some bird nuts on this forum, and so here is some information from the Calgary Zoo's latest quarterly newsletter.

Whooping cranes are quite impressive looking birds, but apparently their wild population in 1945 dipped to only 21 individuals. With conservation programs and breeding grounds set up the overall number in the wild is now closer to 500. The Calgary Zoo as of 2008 has 25 whooping cranes, and has a single pair of birds (named Hope and Chinook) that have been responsible for 85 eggs in the past 11 years. Of those babies, 16 have been released back into the wild in Florida. It seems as if this single zoo has contributed to a substantial increase in the saving of a particular species of bird.

The Calgary Zoo has a separate, 320 acre (129 hectare) area south of the city called the Devonian Wildlife Conservation Centre that breeds rare and endangered animals such as the whooping crane, Grevy's zebra, the mongolian wild horse, and Vancouver Island marmots.

 

It just gos to show what a zoo can do to help a rare species recover in numbers

 

The Calgary Zoo, located in the Canadian Province of Alberta, is Canada's second largest zoo. The layout of the establishment is in geographic terms, with 7 main areas, although occasionally a particular species of animal will be found in a zone that it is not normally in while in the wild. The zoo is the # 1 tourist attraction in Calgary, with 1.2 million visitors every year, and there are almost 1,200 animals in the collection.

Destination Africa - Combining The TransAltaRainforest and African Savannah sections of the zoo, this project cost $33 million and opened in January, 2003. The entire African section of the zoo is fairly large, and features such animals as hippos, lowland gorillas, dwarf crocodiles, dik diks, giraffes, warthogs, african wild dogs, african crested porcupines, lions, meerkats, zebras, crowned cranes, ostriches, bongos, colobus monkeys, rock hyraxes and a variety of other animals.

Canadian Wilds - The largest area of the zoo, with many expansive enclosures. It contains such animals as grizzly bears, american black bears, elk, dall's sheep, bighorn sheep, cougars, wolves, rocky mountain goats, caribou, moose, whooping and sandhill cranes, wood bison, lynx, musk ox, river otters, swift foxes, burrowing owls, pelicans, etc.

Australia and Creatures of the Night - A small and not very noteworthy section of the zoo that features kangaroos, cassowaries, wallabies, bearded dragons, bats, owls, frogs, geckos, douroucoulis, fennec foxes, kinkajous, lesser slow lorises, feather-tailed gliders, agoutis, chevrotains, prehensile-tailed porcupines, skinks, crocodile monitors, etc.

Conservatory/Dorothy Harvie Gardens - A large garden that has a conservatory as its centerpiece. The zoo is spending $18 million to expand and renovate the glass-dominated conservatory, and it will open to the public towards the end of 2009.

Eurasia - Large section of the zoo with siberian tigers, snow leopards, japanese macaques, alpine ibex, red pandas, european wild boars, sloth bears, asian elephants, japanese serow, bactrian camels, markhor, etc.

South American Primate Research Center - Poorly designed, antiquated part of the zoo that is a fairly small proportion of the overall zoo's area. Various marmosets, tamarins, other monkey species, giant anteaters, white-handed gibbons, fallow deer, patagonian cavies, peccaries and lemurs are found here.

Prehistoric Park - A unique section of the zoo, complete with winding walkways and at least 30 lifesize replicas of dinosaurs. This area has always been a massive hit with children of all ages, but could possibly be demolished in the next year or two.

FUTURE:

The long-anticipated and still gestating "Arctic/Antarctic Shores" set of exhibits is still on the backburner. If the Calgary Zoo finally does get around to constructing this enormous, football-field size set of enclosures then the Prehistoric Park will be bulldozed. In its place will be $133 million worth of tanks and exhibits featuring polar bears, seals, arctic foxes, snowy owls, and at least 3 different species of penguins. This project has been in the works for a number of years now, but if ever completed will be one of the largest exhibits of its kind anywhere in the world.

 

TheStar.com | Canada | Calgary zoo reeling from deaths of stingrays

34 dead stingrays that have been making headlines here in Canada.

 

I appreciate the comprehensive and interesting review of Calgary Zoo -- too bad that they have had problems of late ....

 

I know that they would like to acquire Okapi.

 

A singled rusted fitting can crash a tank of that size but this sounds more like a disease one ray had and the zoo did not quarantine properly...

It doesn't matter the size of the tank you still need to keep fish seperated and introduced slowly otherwise trouble is bound to arise...

 

4 more stingrays die at Calgary Zoo, total now 39 - Yahoo! Canada News

The stingrays are dropping like flies, and now there is a suspicion of poison being dumped into the touch pool.

 

At Chester Zoo many years ago the big cats were poisoned on several occasions. Both lions and tigers were affected and I think there was one death at least. The suspicion was that poisoned meat was being thrown over the chain-link fence. It wasn't helped by the fact that the enclosures were adjacent to a public footpath that runs through the zoo, and the perpetrator may not even have had to enter the zoo. I don't think anyone was ever caught for this.

 

This happened at the park next door to the Auckland Zoo:

$1000 reward posted for information on bird killer - 19 Apr 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news

 

Since most of the stingrays died within an hour, I think (a person who has kept 10 aquariums up and running for alomost 15 years now) that a toxin released for a metal substance was put into the tank. This resulted in the stingrays dying all together in a short period of time. On a metal substance, millons of bacteria and toxins may be on it. For example a coin can have 1 millon different bacteria and toxins. This I strongly think happened at the Clgary Zoo. This was not a matter relating to stress.

Just letting you know!

 

Baby gorilla born at Calgary Zoo

Finally, good news for the Calgary Zoo! After having at least 3 gorillas die within a year, a hippo from the Denver Zoo die while in transport, and around 40 stingrays die within a week of each other...a birth! The tiny baby, combined with a 10-month old asian elephant, should draw the crowds this summer.

 

660News Calgary - Elephant attack at Calgary Zoo

After all of the significant deaths at the Calgary Zoo in the past couple of years, this time it was almost a human that perished. No zoo animal is more dangerous than an elephant...

 

You know that elephant keeping is the most dangerous job in the world, 1 death per 660 employees, compared to 1 in 10,000 miners...

 

Yes, supporters of the Calgary Zoo have certainly experienced a series of emotional highs and lows in the last week or so.

Personally I felt quite despondent after learning about the stingray incident. Interactive exhibits have the potential to dramatically increase emotional connections with animals. After spending time interacting with rays it becomes apparent just how much personality and curiosity they possess - something most people would not immediately associate with shark relatives.

As more details emerge it seems to become increasingly apparent that foul play was involved in the deaths of the Calgary Zoo's rays.
Autopsies on the rays revealed severe irritation of the gills in otherwise healthy animals. Drastic water quality changes could account for this, but there were no complications or compromises with the life support systems. In addition, water analysis tests conducted by Zoo staff and independent organizations have concluded that parameters such as pH, salinity, ammonia etc. were all within normal and acceptable ranges. More thorough investigations on toxins in the water are pending.

It would have been exceedingly easy to poison the rays at the Calgary Zoo not only because of their high susceptibility to water born toxins, but also because of the nature of the exhibit. The ray touch tank is not watched by security cameras (although there are cameras watching the adjacent elephant exhibit) and numerous people stuck their hands into the water without using the washing station. Only visitors that fed the rays were required to wash their hands beforehand, other visitors were only encouraged to use the washing stations. The ray touch tank was watched carefully by staff and volunteers at all times, but obviously there is only so much they can observe.

Quartz92 made an interesting comment about coins and metal. Presentations made at the Zoo about the rays even told visitors how sensitive rays would be if something like a coin was dropped into their enclosure! This statement was used in conjunction with a conservation message of just how damaging marine pollutants can be to aquatic life forms.

Regardless of how this all works out and what factors were responsible for killing the rays the Calgary Zoo has lost credibility in the community because ultimately and above all else they are responsible for the health of their animals. Sometimes it seems like it would be so easy to be an animal liberationist/activist.

 

Zoo pursues $5 fee for parking

So, $7 million on solving the parking issues, and another $25 million for the new conservatory. But still no word on the proposed $133 million "Arctic/Antarctic Shores".

 

Is there any new information on there stingrays?

 

@Quartz92:The last I heard was that 41 stingrays died and only 2 survived, but the official autopsy reports haven't been released to the public.

 

Does anyone have photos of the interior of Elephant Crossing. When I was there last the indoor section was closed due to the birth of the calf.

 

Most elephant attacks occur with Bulls in Kerala, India but in zoos Cows are most the often attackers, perhpas Maharani was just protecting Malti?