Kali and Mali, the lioness sisters, passed away in mid-August 2021 and mid-January 2022, respectively. Pompey, the giraffe, passed away in mid-June 2021. Batu, Bodhi, and Kyanada, the snow leopards, were transferred in early November. Assiniboine Park & Zoo | Facebook
The Greater Vancouver Zoo has officially announced the arrival of Theodore, the southern white rhino! https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=420290739853219 Theodore arrived in late October 2021 from the Toronto Zoo.
I doubt the park would go through the trouble of exporting a rhino across the border to a non-accredited zoo. Usually, only surplus bulls go to non-AZA zoos and the park's only surplus bull Justin will likely get transferred somewhere in the US. Theo should be fine on his own, he'll be hitting sexual maturity in the next few years and he'd start living on his own at that point anyway. The paperwork to get animals (especially larger animals) across the border is extensive and even more so with COVID protocols still in place so if Theo does indeed get a companion, the animal would likely be sourced from within Canada. Though there aren't very many options, as I don't think there are any other bulls close to his age in the country.
@Animals R AMAZING! you are correct there are no other young bulls in Canada. Granby has an elderly cow, Shaboola, and a bull in his late teens or early 20s, KC. Parc Safari has male Tony who is about his brother KC's age. Safari Niagara has a male and female but I dont know there ages, definitely older than Theo by a fair bit. They could have a calf possibly in the future but that doesn't do Theo any good now for a companion. And lastly African Lion Safari has 3 cows and 2 bulls all 20 plus years older than Theo. That might be their only option for a Canadian companion if they were willing to send one of the cows knowing her odds of having a calf are basically zero anyway.
Who is someone? For all we know, that someone could just be an animal rights activist ridiculing a perfectly fine habitat. I haven't visited the zoo so I obviously can't comment on it but I wouldn't just blindly believe some random person on the internet. Also, how is this news? This thread is for news about things happening at the zoo, not random comments that don't add much value to the forum. Congrats, but you could've just edited that post to add this, don't need to post just for the sake of posting...
Well, ill be visiting the zoo tomorrow so I suppose ill make a note to take a photo of the hippo house interior (unless I cant, but there looks to be some windows on it). I can say that from google maps it looks very small, and could definitely use an upgrade either way. Don't wanna keep clogging up this thread though, lets reserve it for actual news.
Unfortunately the hippo house was too dark to get a good photo of, but for the record it looked average, not awful. Reminded me of ZSL Whipsnades hippo house in terms of size, with less public viewing opportunities. I know that's a strange connection to make and I'm certain there are more similar hippo barns, but Whipsnade is one of only 4 zoos I have visited lol. The giraffes, red river hogs and white rhino were all off exhibit today. Most likely Theo and the hogs didn't want to come out in the rain, but there was construction in the area so that may have effected things. I have no idea where the giraffes were located but it looks like a new barn is being constructed. I also couldn't locate the lynx enclosure (this was my first visit to the zoo in many years), did something happen to them or are they still at the zoo? I have a few more thoughts after my visit, but im not sure if this is the correct thread to share them in.
There is a single image of the hippo barn in the ZooChat gallery. Here's the photo and in the foreground (not in the shot) is the pool. The main issue with the hippo habitat is that the two animals do not get along, thus visitors are not impressed when on every single visit there is one hippo out in the main habitat while the other animal is 'locked up' behind steel bars with only a very tiny cement pad. Like this:
Perhaps there will be an exchange down the road, although a USA/Canada 'trade' is difficult with the regulations on the border since the beginning of the pandemic. Something needs to be done as there is always a hippo on a small cement pad whenever I visit. I often think that Greater Vancouver Zoo could have a half-dozen hippos outdoors as the land space is quite impressive, but the indoor pool can really only hold a maximum of two hippos.
This is definitely a theme I noticed on my visit, multiple enclosures have the size required for a much larger group of animals however the indoor spaces are just too small. For example the outdoor lemur enclosure could easily hold 6-8 animals but indoors I don't think they could go over 3.
I have been to the zoo several times. My parents live in Richmond, BC and I have gone to the annually for the past 15 years.
I accidentally pressed "Post Reply". I meant to add that the outdoor hippo exhibit is probably a world-class hippo exhibit, but the indoor facility is not that great.
Will the rhino and giraffes be on exhibit this Thursday, March 24th? I'm flying to Vancouver tomorrow (can't tell you where I'm coming from) and I plan to visit the zoo on Thursday, assuming the weather is fine.
