Elephants have been at the Calgary Zoo since forever and a day! I remember seeing them over 30 years ago. It will feel a bit empty without elephants. I still miss seeing the polar bears when we go to the zoo.
The penguin exhibit and the news of the pandas coming were positive news and a relief from all the negatives in the preceding few years with the stingrays dying and other problems. Now it looks like a return to negative news for the zoo.
I don’t view it as a negative story. From a visitor standpoint I guess it is...kids love elephants. But in terms of the zoo focusing on the welfare of their animals this is a positive move.
I do wonder what they will use the space for now.
P.S. Pandas are boring. Not sure why such a big deal is made over them.
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I don’t view it as a negative story. From a visitor standpoint I guess it is...kids love elephants. But in terms of the zoo focusing on the welfare of their animals this is a positive move.
I do wonder what they will use the space for now.
P.S. Pandas are boring. Not sure why such a big deal is made over them.
Maybe they can redo the reptile house. Can't believe we barely have any reptiles at our zoo.
Yeah pandas are pretty boring. unless you get to hold and play with baby ones! everyone needs to goto China.
Maybe they can redo the reptile house. Can't believe we barely have any reptiles at our zoo.
Yeah pandas are pretty boring. unless you get to hold and play with baby ones! everyone needs to goto China.
Boy I forgot about the reptile house.
When you start to think about it there seems to be a lot less stuff overall at the zoo:
Rhinos - GONE
Reptiles- GONE
Nocturnal: GONE
Kangaroos: GONE
Polar Bears; GONE
Seals: GONE
But that fits with my perception of it last time I went...better facilities but less animals overall.
Though it is a vast improvement over what was there when I was a kid. I remember walking across the main bridge and to the right there was a huge row of small cages that housed a lot of smaller animals but also big boys like Grizzly Bears and Lions. Far too small for the size of the beasts.
I don’t view it as a negative story. From a visitor standpoint I guess it is...kids love elephants. But in terms of the zoo focusing on the welfare of their animals this is a positive move.
I do wonder what they will use the space for now.
P.S. Pandas are boring. Not sure why such a big deal is made over them.
It's pretty hard to get panda's at any zoo, China charges a huge fee to "rent" them and I guess they are pretty picky when it comes to the facility.
The Australia section is closed now too, things could be getting slim at the zoo. What will they use to draw people when they lose these bigger attractions (asides from the pandas coming in a few years)?
Charging 21 bucks is probably not a good idea to keep people through the gates. It basically costs you 50 bucks to go there on a "date" Not really worth it IMO.
I think Zoo's are stupid anyways, its just a bunch of animals trapped in cages.
I don’t view it as a negative story. From a visitor standpoint I guess it is...kids love elephants. But in terms of the zoo focusing on the welfare of their animals this is a positive move.
I do wonder what they will use the space for now.
Oh absolutely. I did mean negative in the former context. I wouldn't want to see elephants back at the zoo if the facilities/space isn't suitable for the animals.
Elephants.......one of the key memories I have of a trip to South Africa last year was sitting in the middle of a heard of Elephants as they ate the forest for breakfast.
We sat there for 30-40 mins, watching and taking picture.
Charging 21 bucks is probably not a good idea to keep people through the gates. It basically costs you 50 bucks to go there on a "date" Not really worth it IMO.
I think Zoo's are stupid anyways, its just a bunch of animals trapped in cages.
Zoo's do actually serve a purpose in the field of conservation. I'm only familiar with the Calgary Zoo, but they fund many programs all over the world to benefit animals. These aren't programs you're generally going to see get funding from government. I see my visit to the zoo as a partial donation.
I haven't been to the zoo in a while but do they still have that Jurrasic area where you basically go on a long walk and see a few fake dinos. If they need room...get rid of that....
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If you question the motives of this decision at all, I suggest watching this piece from the PBS show Nature. Get your onion goggles out, this one's going to get misty. Part 1
Part 2
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elephants get the clap??? who knew........i was surprised to read the above comment about all the animals that have been moved out of the zoo. now that my kids are getting oldr, we go there less and less often.
i'd suggest that the calgary zoo attempt to capture both bigfoot and the yeti - and we would then be world class again.....
If you question the motives of this decision at all, I suggest watching this piece from the PBS show Nature. Get your onion goggles out, this one's going to get misty. Part 1
elephants get the clap??? who knew........i was surprised to read the above comment about all the animals that have been moved out of the zoo. now that my kids are getting oldr, we go there less and less often.
i'd suggest that the calgary zoo attempt to capture both bigfoot and the yeti - and we would then be world class again.....
I haven't been to the zoo in a while but do they still have that Jurrasic area where you basically go on a long walk and see a few fake dinos. If they need room...get rid of that....
Yeah, that's definitely just a placeholder for future exhibits. The planned arctic shores exhibit was supposed to go there, with polar bears and beluga whales, but that was put on hold (possibly permanently, although the zoo says it was for funding concerns, not for any controversy). But it's not like they could just bulldoze that and put in a big savannah. I would have loved for the Arctic Shores to have gone ahead, especially with an expansive polar bear enclosure, similar to what Toronto has.
My son and I go to the zoo every week... We'll miss the elephants a lot, but I certainly understand this decision... good for them to be thinking of the welfare of the animals first. Personally, I don't have a problem if the zoo makes a move overall to animals that are better-suited to limited space, or where there's a serious need for a breeding program.
The penguins are awesome, and the zoo just got a couple malayan fruit bats that are really cool... I'd love to see a beaver colony, some swift foxes, and more reptiles and amphibians.
It'll be interesting to see what they do with the space, given that the facility is quite new overall. Another large eurasian mammal that doesn't have the same social needs would be ideal. I would love to see the zoo get indian rhinos... they tend to be much more solitary creatures so might be better suited to being kept in small numbers in a zoo.
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The Penguins are a huge addition to the Zoo, but man with the Elephants gone that's a lot of real estate they've got, especially if you include that horrible trip to the 80's in the Dinosaur area.
I love going to the Zoo though, and the Calgary Zoo is a great facility.
Screw normal boring Pandas, the Red Pandas at the Calgary Zoo are amazing creatures. Red Panda by apeddle1982, on Flickr
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