300 - amazon s3...fell in, veasey grabbed baird who was now far too close to the panicked animal —...

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THE GREAT FLOOD OF 2013

FACING PAGE: After returning from Ottawa, Zoo presi-dent Clement Lanthier surveyed flood damage in the African Savannah a day later.LEFT: Suffering too much flood damage, the Australia exhibit was dismantled.TOP: Construction workers at the Calgary Zoo cleared debris and took apart damaged exhibits and buildings.MIDDLE: Only rubble remains of the South America build-ing, which also had to be torn down.BOTTOM: Crews set up dozens of pumps around the island to try to drain the new ponds of water.

When Lanthier, the zoo’s president and CEO, arrived from Ottawa later that morning, Veasey escorted him around the island by boat. Lanthier took photographs of the devastation with the intent of sharing it with zoo em-ployees not on scene. While staff such as Veasey tended to the immediate crisis, Lanthier knew his job over the coming days was moving the zoo forward, surviving in the long run.

Lanthier, whose own home in the city’s Erlton district was flooded, couldn’t believe his staff managed to save almost all of the zoo’s animals without incident. His shock over the state of the zoo was matched only by the pride he felt of people who had risked their safety many times throughout those harrowing hours.

One of those times was the incident with the zoo’s beloved giraffes, Carrie and Nebo. In a secure area at the south end of the Savannah building, the pair stood shivering in more than two metres of water, the murky river up to their bellies. With every hour they remained submerged, their chances of survival greatly diminished, especially for the older and more delicate Carrie.

Just getting near them was a challenge. With the power out, none of the automatic doors worked. After a

few failed attempts, Dorgan, diving under the water to try various keys, finally got the exterior door open. The narrow keeper corridor that led to the area holding the giraffes was filled with water, with just a little more than a half-metre of breathing space at the ceiling.

They needed to persuade the giraffes to go through a waterlogged corridor and a water-filled chute to the open air. Outside, workers had put up police tape along a series of trees to guide the mammals safely to higher ground; they wouldn’t have been able to see the waist-high fenc-ing which was now under water. A misstep could result in a broken leg or worse.

The animal experts knew it was a long shot: the chute they were trying to lure the giraffes to was a loading area, typically used by humans. The habit-loving giraffes wouldn’t venture there in the best of times, let alone when they were cold and frightened. In the wild, there might well have been crocodiles lurking under the sur-face. But there was no other option.

The giraffes, skittish and suspicious, were having none of it. On Veasey and Dorgan’s first attempt to coax them out, they simply wouldn’t budge. The team needed to be more forceful in their tactics. Spotting plastic picnic

tabletops floating in the water, Veasey enlisted Baird and Dorgan in a desperate, last-ditch effort. The three donned dry suits and hockey helmets — used by keepers working with the spiral-horned markhor goats — then made their way along the water-filled hallway, using the tabletops as shields.

No amount of yelling, though, could convince the giraffes to move. Flares attached to the ends of sticks had no effect. The three were on the losing end of a standoff.

It was at this point, the distressed giraffes reacted wildly.

Veasey, who had climbed a ladder to try to coax the animals forward, had to jump into the water to get out of the way of a charging Carrie. As she bolted, her nearly two-metre-long legs thrashed in the water. As he fell in, Veasey grabbed Baird who was now far too close to the panicked animal — and, using all the strength he could muster, shoved her out of its path and down the corridor.

The close call was not the first for Veasey: when he was a young keeper in the U.K., he had been kicked twice in the head by a giraffe. His survival then was considered nothing short of a miracle. ➤

were required for the demolition of damaged zoo buildings

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THE GREAT FLOOD OF 2013

The trio, now in danger of being overcome by hypother-mia, retreated. After hours in and out of cold water and with less than two hours of sleep over the past 48 hours, there was little strength left in them. Continuing to stress the giraffes threatened the animals more than the cold water.

Over the coming hours and days, the curators and their boss would face more challenges and obstacles — and the odd miracle. By Sunday morning, they were able to see the two hippos were still inside Savannah.

Still, Lobi gave them a run for their money. Two days after the flood, they found the mischievous hippo wedged into a keeper doorway. They built a “hay ramp” sup-ported by sandbags to convince him to climb out. Seeing him wedged into such a tight space, though, confirmed Veasey’s earlier assessment that a hippo could have easily made it through the much bigger window.

While the military spent Saturday night rebuilding the berm around the tigers’ enclosure, Veasey and Dorgan continued to fight for Carrie and Nebo, feeding them as best they could. By Sunday, the receding waters opened

an alternate route to safety, one the giraffes were willing to try.

Watching the beautiful animals warm up in the mid-day sun, they knew that while the giraffes were out of the water, they were far from out of the woods. “I won’t relax until they’re still alive a month from now,” thought Dorgan.

In the days that followed, the cleanup began. Thirty-two pumps drained more than a half million litres of water per hour; 60 truckloads of muck were removed from the elephant enclosure while another 60 loads of debris were hauled from the Canadian Wilds exhibit. The first of more than 300 workers began the painstaking task of demolish-ing the $50-million worth of ruined buildings and struc-tures.

While the zoo mourned the loss of four peacocks and scores of fish, it was widely understood even in those early days that it could have been so much worse. No mammal, large or small, perished because of the flood. The only escapees would turn out to be a turtle name Me-

lissa, found days later wandering around an office in the zoo’s conservatory, and several blue Morpho butterflies, their brilliant azure, hue delighting Inglewood residents days after the flood.

And yes, a month later, Carrie and Nebo were still alive, showing no permanent harm from spending three days in belly-deep flood water. Their survival, along with that of more than 150 other animals, birds and reptiles saved, is a credit to the perseverance of key zoo staff. Veasey, who led the rescue effort, downplays any personal heroics, saying it could not have been done without the support of the community and all zoo staff who put in a combined 1,000 man-hours in those first 48 hours. “The support we received from the entire city was phenomenal,” he says. “The zoo is symbolic of the city’s recov-ery. We need to be seen to recover in order for the city to recover.”

And the zoo is recovering. In July, the Prehistoric Park, Penguin Plunge and Canadian Wilds exhibit reopened to the public. On Nov. 28, the entire island will welcome visitors, minus the now-demolished South America building and several animals which have gone to other zoos.

There will a few crowd favourites there to greet them, such as Lobi the hippo and Carrie the giraffe.

They survived because of the courage and perseverance of those charged with their daily care. Together, man and beast prevailed over the floods, creating an unforgettable chapter in the history of Calgary’s zoo.

TOP: Monica West cleaned up the mud inside the Trading Post store located beside the TransAlta Rainforest building.ABOvE: Mud-covered Calgary Zoo staff walked through the enclosures on June 25, five days after the flood struck.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Carrie gazed at the changed world outside her now clean pen. Zoo interior gardener Boyd Nave checked on Melissa the turtle in her temporary home in a pond inside the Enmax Conservatory. After the flood Melissa was found in an office in the building after being swept there. The zoo’s collection of piranhas and four of its peacocks succumbed to the flood waters.


Pleased to meet zoo!CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Clockwise from left: Humboldt penguins in the Penguin Plunge exhibit; Magnetic Hill Zoo made a home for the Calgary Zoo’s two-toed sloth after the flood; Kakinga has been the zoo’s most successful silverback gorilla, producing nine offspring with four different mates since he be-came the troop leader in 1993; the zoo has two species of zebra – Grevys and Hartmann’s mountain; African lions; a monkey, a grizzly in the Canadian Wild exhibit; a garter snake suns itself on a rock; a grey wolf peaks out of its enclosure.

On the heels of the Calgary Zoo’s much-anticipated grand reopening Nov. 28, one of the city’s favourite Christ-mas treats will be ready too, one day later.

Zoolights — bigger and brighter with more than 250,000 additional bulbs — will open the evening of Nov. 29, inviting Calgarians, their kids and all of their visiting relatives to get into the spirit of the season.

Officials say this year’s event is more important than ever after flood waters wreaked over $50 million in dam-age and $10 million in lost revenue this past June.

Zoo staff have worked for five months to rebuild the grounds, rehabilitate enclosures and nurse many animals back to health, with their official grand reopening set for Nov. 28 in a series of special events.

But staff know winter isn’t the zoo’s most popular

season, so adding Zoolights over Christmas will help with the increased attendance they so desperately need.

“This is our hell or high water — it’s a time when so many tourists are in town and everybody’s looking for something festive to do,” says Roz Freeman, special events adviser with the Calgary Zoo.

“There’s really no better way to get into the Christmas spirit.”

A number of detailed additions will also be featured, including two animated, moving light shows.

Every tree, every pathway, and every railing will be lit, along with the usual dozens of animal figures, some as small as one metre, others as tall as 12 metres.

And with plenty of snow already covering the zoo grounds, officials expect the display will be more reflec-

tive, and more brilliant than ever.“The snow really makes it beautiful,” Freeman says.“And no matter how cold it is, people can bundle up, get

their hot chocolate, and really enjoy themselves. You can’t walk through Zoolights without really getting into the holiday season.”

Zoolights begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29 and goes until Jan. 4, 2014.

Admission is $12 for anyone aged 16 and older, $9 for children aged three to 15 and free for anyone under three.

Zoolights celebrates season and reopening

ABOvE: Zoolights, which opens Nov. 29, will be bigger and brighter than ever with 250,000 additional bulbs making the Zoo grounds aglow for the holiday season.


Awestruck over tigers and elephants, romping through botanical gar-dens, or scaling Dinny the Dinosaur with her brothers, the Calgary Zoo was always the best part of little Jann Arden’s summer.

Growing up just west of the city in Springbank, her fond childhood memories are shared by generations of Calgarians.

“The zoo — it was a huge occasion, like Disneyland. The excitement, it was beyond belief.

“We’d pack a lunch, lay out the blanket . . . get out the Thermos and the salt-and-vinegar chips.

“And we’d see the animals, back when they were still in cages. It was amazing.”

To this day, Arden, now an international celebrity and award-winning singer-songwriter, is a regular at the zoo. And, she says, it is always extraordinary.

“It’s a time where you can interact with animals, you learn about wildlife, you learn about your world, the environment, conservation.

It’s a place that inspires all of us.”Built on what was once the city’s first park, St. George’s Island, the zoo’s

first collection of animals appeared as early as 1917.Over the decades it’s developed into one of Canada’s most celebrated,

diverse zoos, featuring penguins, a prehistoric park and giant pandas scheduled to arrive in 2018.

When the zoo, in the centre of the Bow River, was ravaged by the high waters of the historic June flood, Arden, along with the rest of Calgary, was horrified.

While some fish and four peacocks were lost, dozens of other species, from porcupines to spider monkeys, had to be moved off the island.

Flooding destroyed 40 buildings, wreaking $50 million in damages and forced a closure that’s resulted in $10 million in lost revenue.

In the earliest hours of rising water, zoo spokeswoman Trish Exton-Pard-er says Arden was “one of the first to say publicly, ‘How can I help?’,”

Community rallies to help zoo

a testament to her lifetime commitment to supporting the zoo.

Weeks later, Arden volunteered to write and record a song to help the zoo’s fundraising campaign, 2By2 Rebuild the Zoo, singing with a group of children about the impor-tant effort to rebuild.

At the same time, Calgarians reached out, too, finding innovative and unique ways to help with the zoo’s over-whelming recovery work.

Children and their parents erected lemonade stands, baked cookies, sold photographs and collected bottles.

Volunteers arrived at zoo gates, wearing boots and car-rying shovels, asking what they could do. Corporations donated cash, animal feed and staff lunches.

So far, more than $3 million has been raised by the com-munity.

“All of the little things that everyone did — it was magical really,” says Exton-Parder, who spent part of the summer explaining to distraught kids over the phone why the zoo was closed and assuring them the animals were OK.

Rebecca Solly’s four-year-old daughter, Elora, was upset when the zoo closed after the flooding, confused and frustrated as to why she couldn’t visit.

“She’s just too young to help with the actual cleanup, but she loves to bake, she loves to cook, so we still found a way to help,” says Rebecca.

Elora whipped up 100 cookies, raisin-spice and choco-late-chip, for staff. ➤

FACING PAGE: Singer-songwriter Jann Arden with the Calgary Zoo’s Trish-Exton Parder at the 2013 Tusks & Tails fundraising gala.LEFT: Generous moms brought lunch for work-weary zoo staffers.ABOvE: Rebecca Solly and her daughter Elora, 4, baked 100 cookies for staff during the zoo’s flood recovery, their unique way of helping out.BOTTOM: Artwork created by children for 2 By 2 Rebuild the Zoo ad campaign.

From songwriting to selling artwork, children and adults pitch in to raise funds and spirits By Eva Ferguson

COMMUNITY


Zoo fanatic Natacha Welsh and her five-year-old daughter Jacqueline have been collecting bottles, hosting barbecues and taking photos to raise more than $300 for the rebuild.

“If everybody does something, no matter how small, imag-ine what a difference it would make,” says Welsh, who was married years ago in the zoo conservatory.

“The zoo is such a special place, for so many people, and not just those who have kids. They go for the animals, the gardens, there’s just so much beauty there.”

Welsh, who has her own photography website, has been transforming beautiful photos of zoo animals into greeting cards and selling them to raise money.

Amy Matthews, a mom of three boys, says her oldest son, Jack, 8, was worried when he realized animals had lost their homes.

But when the zoo launched its ad campaign this sum-mer, inviting kids to make art to raise awareness of the rebuilding, she jumped at the opportunity.

“It just seemed like a great way to help. The zoo is a part of everyone’s lives. We’re all impacted.”

Jack hopes when people see the ad, filled with kids, draw-ings and Arden’s music, they’ll be inspired to help.

“I hope when they see it they’ll want to do some fund-raising, or give some money to help the zoo.”

Arden’s involvement with the song is just the latest in her decades’ worth of contributions, says Exton-Parder, from speaking at Tusks and Tails, singing at Zoo Gala fundraisers, being featured in the zoo’s Wild Life magazine after she participated in Keeper for A Day, or promoting the zoo on the popular Rick Mercer Report TV show.

After a partial opening in July, the zoo will fully reopen Nov. 28 with ceremonies set at 10:30 a.m. including special guests, speeches and a focus on children in the commu-

nity. It’s a day officials say will be just as important to the animals as it will be to visitors.

“The animals have been through a lot of stress over the last few months. Living in our zoo, they are used to visitors and I believe they miss the energy of people, the interaction with them . . . it’s enriching for them,” says Exton-Parder.

“It will be great for them to have the people back.”And in a city the size of Calgary, growing as rapidly as

it is, Arden says it’s important that Calgarians treasure the few sacred gathering places they still have.

“The zoo is a place where we can all come together as a community, it’s about the outdoors and interacting with something that makes your heart grow.

“It will be a long time rebuilding, but it’s so worthy of our community.”

[email protected]

LEFT: Left: Eight year old Jack Matthews shows off some of the artwork he made for the Calgary Zoo’s campaign to raise awareness of flood rebuilding efforts.TOP: Charlie Wowdzia, 11, left, and Jolie Cree, 10, show off the ads they designed as part of the 2 X 2 Rebuild the Zoo cam-paign. Youth created both print and radio advertisements.ABOvE: A $115 donation from Jack Workun.

ABOvE: Natacha Welsh and her daughter Jacqueline Welsh, 5. Jacqueline raised money by collecting bottles while her mom sold postcards of animal photographs taken at the zoo (left).


In that old familiar Bible story, Noah herded a se-lection of animals onto his custom-built ark to save the critters from a world-destroying flood.

More than six months ago, the Calgary Zoo drew on the animal preservation part of Noah’s tale when it unveiled an ambitious 20-year master plan for “building the ark” in Calgary.

The plan plots out the best use of every inch of the facility’s island base and riverfront north side.

The zoo of the future would have large new enclo-sures, extraordinary exhibits featuring giant pandas, lemurs and polar bears, and renewed emphasis on sustainability and conservation to help save endan-gered animals from destructive forces inundating their natural habitats.

By late June, the comparison to Noah’s ark became more apt than anyone could have expected when a monstrous flood sloshed through Calgary’s inner-city menagerie.

The water left at least $50 million in damage and ate up millions more in lost revenue as the facility shuttered its most popular exhibits to rebuild from the wreckage.

Now, as the Calgary Zoo is set to fully reopen to visi-

tors, CEO Clement Lanthier says there’s plenty to be ex-cited about as the facility moves forward from the flood.

And now, more than ever, the zoo will truly be-come a flood-braving ark, Lanthier adds.

The zoo is working with engineers to rebuild its protective berms and come up with other mitigation plans to prevent similar flood damage in the future.

“We need to rebuild the protection on the island so that it will really play its role in being an ark,” Lanthier says, smiling a bit at the word play.

The zoo boss, who is a former field veterinarian, says the core of the zoo’s master plan remains intact post-flood: a collection focused on conservation so that it will remain meaningful for future generations, a sustainable environment, sound financial manage-ment.

The zoo is already busy making plans for its many new additions, including old favourites — polar bears and seals.

Two lovable giant pandas, on loan from China, are due to arrive in 2018 for a five-year stay. When they leave, orangutans will move into the enclosure.

Parts of St. George’s Island are set for an overhaul with an improved African Savannah and a sprawling

enclosure for Przewalski horses on the west side. The Siberian tigers are moving north of the river where the old prehistoric park is making way for an exhibit that allows the big cats space to roam.

The zoo is planning something a little different for its new bear exhibit on the north side near Penguin Plunge.

Polar bears, grizzlies and black bears will rotate through three enclosures. The revolving exhibits allows the bears to be “exposed to a different terrain, different wind, different smell, different texture, dif-ferent shape of the enclosure,” Lanthier says.

“Coming in as a visitor, you don’t know what’s go-ing to be in today.”

It’s part of the zoo’s new philosophy to look at its collection in a more creative way and to encourage visitors to see more, smell more, even feel more, in some cases.

Seals will swim in large ponds, which will feature a tunnel with viewpoints where visitors can watch the pinnipeds swim by.

Then there’s the lemurs, another uber-charismatic animal meant to draw in crowds of adoring fans while at the same time providing opportunities to tell an important conservation story.

Flood damage hasn’t altered ambitious plans for future By JAMIE KOMARNICKI

Zoo to become more interactive

About 20 or so black and white ruffed lemurs are destined for an enclosure on the zoo’s now vacant southeast corner, where they’ll be able to perch on railings overlooking a boardwalk that intersects the exhibit and gawk with their signature googly eyes at visitors close enough to touch.

“We know the lemur are very curious. Typically they will come, they will sit on the railing looking at you,” Lanthier says.

“You’ll feel the proximity, you’ll feel the immer-sion, you’ll be moved.”

From major redesigns to small nips and tucks, the new Calgary Zoo design is meant to make visitors feel like they’re inside with the animals, not on the outside looking in.

“Calgarians can expect our future exhibits to

be similar to what they have experienced visiting Penguin Plunge, that will be impactful, that will be intimate, that will be wow, but will also be respectful for the animals,” Lanthier says.

“It’s a balance between animal care, animal welfare and spectacular experience, unparalleled experience for the visitors, that will give us the better ability to invest more in conservation.”

And Dinny, that family favourite dinosaur now tucked back in some trees, is set for a makeover and a prime, central location in his own garden.

Native Calgarian and longtime zoo champion Patricia Moore remembers the delight when Dinny was first built — a time when groups held three-legged races and egg-on-a-spoon competitions in his shadow.

ABOvE: Visitors will be able to get a close look at about 20 charismatic black and white ruffed lemurs that will be located in an enclosure in the zoo’s southeast corner. FACING PAGE: Left: A large pond with a pedestrian tunnel will house playful seals. Centre: The zoo’s Sibe-rian tigers will room in a new larger enclosure where the prehistoric park is located. Right: Polar bears will rotate between three different enclosures that will also house grizzly bears and black bears at different times.

WHAT’S NEXT


WHAT’S NEXT

The 83-year-old zoo volunteer has seen many chang-es over the decades as animal care techniques improved and cages were replaced with larger enclosures.

Moore says she would love to see the zoo spring back from the flood to become an even more popular gathering area where family and friends will be able to connect with nature and wildlife in new ways.

“Everything’s a creative opportunity,” says Moore.“It’s heartwarming for me, you see people of all

ages, young couples, at the zoo.”It’s a vision Lanthier shares as the zoo moves forward.The flood has already accelerated some parts of the

master plan.The South America building, an older facility par-

ticularly hard hit by the water, has already been torn down, much sooner than intended.

Lanthier would now like to see a wildlife inter-pretive centre, which will be built on that space, go up a lot sooner. The interactive space, which won’t contain any live animals, is meant to provide visitors with a full sensory experience.

“If you want to be able to understand the differ-ence between the fur of a zebra and the fur of a seal, I can talk to you about it, but if you touch it, you understand,” Lanthier says.

The future location of the animal health centre, meanwhile, remains undecided.

In the master plan, it was slated to move from the north side right to a prime spot on St. George’s Island. During the flood, it saved a lot of headaches because its location on higher ground meant it provided shelter to many of the animals.

Lanthier has big plans for the health centre, though. He’d like to create a theatre where visi-tors can see what’s going on in the animal health centre — whether it’s an ape getting a heart checkup, or a tiger due for a teeth cleaning. Even necropsies wouldn’t be off limits, he says. The animal autopsies are part of the circle of life at the zoo and could provide a valuable educational experience for visitors.

“I’m not saying we’re going to create an entertain-ment centre, but there’s so much activity that’s going on in the animal health centre every day, and no one is aware of this,” Lanthier says.

“We need to share this with our visitors and Cal-garians.”

Even with the flood nightmare still so fresh, Lan-thier says there’s no question the zoo will stay on its island home.

He says the zoo is “exceptionally lucky” to have a location in the heart of the city, and on an LRT line.

“It’s just like asking Calgary downtown if they thought about relocating all the skyscrapers and the

LRT because there was water on that street, water in the tunnel,” he says.

“The answer is no, we have to mitigate the risk.”He praised the support from corporate Calgary

and the philanthropic community to help the zoo get back on its feet and hopes the loving feeling lasts.

“We would like the zoo to stay in this very sweet spot in their mind and heart. Where they want to do something, it’s a sunny day in February, the Chinook is blowing, come and visit the zoo.”

And, when the rebuilding is done, when the giant pandas are scarfing down bamboo and the lemurs are batting their big, round eyes and the months of cleaning up waterlogged wreckage are only a dim memory, small bronze plaques put up at various high water marks will remain a simple reminder of ruin and resiliance at the zoo.

[email protected]

ABOvE: The Calgary Zoo’s 20 years Master Plan includes an improved African Savannah on the west side of St. George’s Island. FACING PAGE: Longtime zoo supporter and volunteer Patricia Moore remembers the excitement Dinny the dinosaur used to elicit. The giant creature will be get-ting a facelift and a new home in his own garden in a central location.


HISToRY oF THe Zoo

HISToRY oF THe Zoo

1910 | | | | 1920 | | | | 1930 | | | | 1940

1918The first exhibit at the

calgary Zoo — one deer — is introduced to curious visitors.

1929a massive flood, similar to the one in June 2013, dev-astates the zoo, causing

major damage and loss of several animals.

1939 Tibetan yaks, a gift from canada’s national parks

services, arrive.

1935John Kanerva creates dinny the dinosaur,

a much loved fixture at the zoo.

1940 a black leopard, the first in canada, arrives

from the los angeles Zoo. a hyena, acquired from the Fleischacker Zoo in

san Francisco, takes up residence two months later.

1951construction of a $12,000 lion house is announced. The big cats will be housed in the steam-heated facility, which includes heated floors and is

believed to be the first facility in canada to use this technology.

1953Two sumatran tigers are ac-

quired from the rotterdam Zoo.

1957The children’s Zoo opens,

courtesy of a donation from the harvie family.

1941 a fossil house, the sec-ond at the zoo is con-structed to house the

cutler collection which includes hundreds of

specimens taken from the cut banks of the

red deer river.

1942 Two armadillos arrive from

the san antonio Zoo.

1946molly the chimpanzee takes up residence at

the zoo, and quickly becomes a crowd fa-vourite, delighting visitors with her talents. she ties and unties shoe laces, drinks milk from a cup and even combs her own hair.

1964The first phase of the conservatory opens.

| | | | 1950 | | | | 1960 | | |


1990 | | | | 2000 | | | | 2010 | |

1979The Zoocare program is introduced, the first of its kind in canada,

allowing individuals and companies to contribute to the annual care and feeding costs of their

favourite mammal, bird, amphibian, fish

or reptile.

1985a red panda is acquired from the Knoxville Zoo.

1988excited calgarians

celebrate the arrival of rare giant pandas Xi Xi

and Qun Qun. The zoo hits the magic

million mark as visitors flock to view the

giant pandas.

1991The discovery centre, an education building

on dinosaurs, opens.

1999Koalas doowi and Quamby make a

three-month guest appearance at the

zoo from their home base at the san

diego Zoo.

2003destination africa, which includes the Transalta rain Forest and the african

savannah facilities, opens.

2012Penguin Plunge, a $24.5-million exhibit opens with features

including rocky outcroppings, splashing water fountains and a deep chilly pool for the gentoo, king, rockhopper and

endangered humboldt penguins.

| 1970 | | | | 1980 | | | |

HISToRY oF THe Zoo

HISToRY oF THe Zoo

1972The zoo begins construction on a polar bear complex, the first

of its kind in the world.

1967a $650,000 marine land project

is announced, the new facility will be designed to hold porpois-

es, seals and small whales.

1983The calgary Zoo’s Prehistoric Park is completed and opened to the public. depicting the mesozoic era, exhibits

include 12 lifelike, fibreglass dinosaurs and is expected to draw an extra

100,000 visitors annually.


Hippos from Africa, tigers from Siberia, pandas from China: The globe-trotting stars of the Calgary Zoo are on the ground ambassadors for wildlife conservation.

“In a zoo we tend to take care of animals of all regions of the globe,” says Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, founder and head of the zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research. “We are international in scope because our species are.”

Approximately one in seven of the threatened species on Earth are under the guardianship of zoos.

It is therefore no surprise one of the essential Calgary Zoo initiatives — winning it national and international acclaim — is wildlife conservation, from fighting national extinction threats to leading community-based programs in other parts of the world.

Dr. Clément Lanthier, president and CEO of the Calgary Zoo, says the difference locally is “we walk the talk” of conservation with a captive breeding program and world-leading niche of rein-troducing threatened species into the wild.

“We do this because it is the right thing to do — we have a pas-sion for it, it is relevant, science-based and sound.”

With an extinction rate, conservatively, of three species a day, and shrinking habitat with a world human population expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050 (from about seven billion today), Moehrenschlager says the challenge is clear.

“Nature is increasingly under threat. We need to do our share to help avert that crisis to reverse regional species extinction and to make the planet sustainable.”

Zoo’s International mission to save threatened species draws praiseBy BARBARA LIVINGSTONE

Zoo’s work goes global

CONSERVATION

He says the Calgary Zoo’s focus on conservation reflects how zoos themselves have changed.

“Historically, hundreds of years ago, zoos were places people could see curiosities from places they had never been or had hope of seeing.”

Zoos became educational institutions; then came the expectation and the opportunity to further global conservation.

The zoo’s 20-year master plan includes the vision of being Canada’s leader in wildlife conservation, says Moehrenschlager, also an adjunct associate professor at the U of C and a senior research associate at Oxford.

And it is well on its way. The zoo has won an Alberta Emerald Award for conservation, twice won the North American Conservation Award of the American As-sociation for Zoos and Aquariums, several Canadian Zoo conservation awards, and Moehrenschlager himself has won a prestigious Roland Michener conservation award.

The zoo’s focus is “not just to have an animal in an exhibit but to make a difference for that animal in the world; to reintroduce it into the wild and to build community-based conservation,” says Moehrenschlager.

That integrated vision is unique for a zoo, he says, and clearly links zoo visitors to the animals and their world, and to the science that will help find solutions.

The Centre for Conservation Research is 90 per cent funded externally — which is also unique.

“It is unusual for sustained industry funding — Hus-ky Energy has been with us through three renewals — and helps us be free to be scientists.”

And what those scientists do, he says, is spend six to eight months of the year on the ground with wildlife.

So what has been done and what is going to be done going forward?

First, zoos in general — including Calgary’s — have linked breeding programs for endangered species.

“We need the maximum genetic diversity in zoos and

ABOvE: The zoo’s Siberian tigers, including some playful cubs, are part of an international breeding program to pro-tect the endangered species that is the world’s largest cat. FACING PAGE: Left: Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, founder and head of the zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research, says the facility wants to be Canada’s leader in wildlife conservation. A recent success story was the reintroduc-tion of the swift fox, pictured behind Moehrenschlager, on the Canadian prairies. Right: Northern leopard frogs are part of another animal reintroduction program spearhead-ed by the zoo’s conservation centre.


CONSERVATION

The Bongo Mountain antelope is a beautiful creature, its elegant face framed by large ears and its caramel-coloured body striped with white.

Yet only 100 to 200 are left in the highlands of Kenya, making them one of many endangered species in Africa.

For a Kenyan living in the mountainous area where the antelopes are found, killing one would provide some cash and meat for six months.

“We try to show how the same animal can provide a living over and over again, for 30 or 40 years,” says Donna Sheppard, the Calgary Zoo’s conservation outreach co-ordinator in Africa.

The zoo’s community-based conservation work means that instead of going into a poor country and saying “we know best,” they let the community determine how conservation can become an economic way of life — primarily in ecotourism, but also through development of

specialty organic crops like shea trees used in shea butter in Ghana.

“We don’t come in and take over. We work with them, offering support from a scientist . . . for free. Otherwise, they make money killing the animals or destroying habi-tat,” says Sheppard, a conservation biologist working on her doctorate in rural studies. She is better known at the zoo and in her regular blog dispatches as “Our Woman in Africa.”

Sheppard has spent 10 years in West Africa working with wildlife in their natural habitat — the hippos in Ghana, mountain gorillas in Rwanda, zebras in Kenya — but, more importantly, building conservation partnerships with local communities.

For example, the Calgary Zoo helped set up a commu-nity board to run the self-sustaining Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, which now sees 2,000 visitors yearly

and supports 25 staff members including tour guides and boatmen.

“We go in for the long term,” says Sheppard, who emphasizes the programs work only if people can earn a living from conservation.

After 10 years based in Ghana, where temperatures are regularly 35 to 45 degrees Celsius, and malaria is a twice-yearly fact of life, Sheppard is moving operations to Kenya to continue her work for the Calgary Zoo there, including preservation of the Bongo antelope.

Sheppard’s job is part of the natural circle of the zoo’s conservation efforts, working with animals in the wild that zoo goers can see in Calgary.

The zoo, she says, helps the public learn about the natu-ral world, about animals from all over the globe.

“And if we are not interested in conservation, what is the hope for the survival of the planet?”

to put back into the wild. For example, our tigers and lions are in that program along with about 40 other breeds.”

The key, he says, is to avoid too much inbreeding, because maximum diversity provides the ability for wildlife to better adapt.

In Calgary, additionally, the zoo focuses on locally driven national and international initiatives, including reintroduction of species back into places where they no longer exist.

Moehrenschlager did his PhD (from Oxford’s Wild-life Conservation Unit) on the Canadian Prairie’s swift foxes. While plentiful in the 1930s, the foxes became endangered by the early 1990s. Research and breeding programs resulted in fox releases into the wild until 1997, when they stopped because the animal was popu-lating so well on its own.

In partnership with Parks Canada, the centre worked to reintroduce black-footed ferrets — which disap-peared from Canada more than 70 years ago — into

southern Saskatchewan, which has a rodent this ferret preys on.

Other zoo reintroduction initiatives include black-tailed prairie dogs, Vancouver Island marmots, burrow-ing owls, whooping cranes and northern leopard frogs.

The success has led countries such as Korea, Viet-nam, Costa Rica and India to recruit Moehrenschlager and the centre to advise on their own efforts.

“The difference at the Calgary Zoo is the focus of attention on a specific topic — the number of rein-troductions has increased 10 fold from what it was 30 years ago.”

The centre hopes to soon turn its attention to the woodland caribou, a threatened species in Canada.

The caribou live in the southern Rocky Mountains and there are only 200 to 300 left. The final herd in Banff died in a 2009 avalanche, and some are believed still in the Jasper area. If funding comes through, a Calgary Zoo breeding facility would be set up outside of the city.

And while the flood brought challenges — the con-servation centre, in the heart of the zoo, was one of the hardest hit and has been relocated to the University of Calgary during rebuilding — it has also brought op-portunity.

The centre is collaborating on a program on lemurs in Madagascar with a professor and PhD student at the university.

Moehrenschlager says the research will look at work-ing with those who live in one of the highest human densities in the world, to improve the habitat of one of the most endangered species in the world.

And that community-based conservation work is key for the centre, especially in developing countries where residents may be destroying wildlife and its habitat, to survive. (see adjacent story)

In the case of the lemur, says Moehrenschlager, the answer may be working with the community to plant seeds that pass through the stomach of lemurs, and from the feces can germinate and plant the forest.

Outreach co-ordinator goes where the animals are

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOvE: The zoo’s conservation centre hopes to help re-establish Canada’s threatened woodland caribou population, as well as Vancouver Island marmots and the black-footed ferret, which disappeared from Canada 70 years ago. FACING PAGE: Donna Sheppard, the zoo’s conservation outreach co-ordinator in Africa, says the goal isn’t to tell local residents what to do, but to help them find the best way to embrace and profit from conservation.

PASSPORTtoTHEWORLDA visit to the Calgary Zoo opens the door to the entire world; it is home to amazing exhibits and animals from around the globe.

Now, you have a chance to win one of two “passport to the world” prizes – an ultimate package of zoo member-ships, tickets to exclusive events and behind-the-scene experiences.

Each of the two prizes include:

Zoo memberships for a family of four – two adults and two children Four tickets to our Safari Sunday Brunch for two adults and two children. In 2014, it starts in late January and runs every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Four tickets to a Behind the Scenes program of your choice — either lions, tigers, bears, and giraffes (For ages 8 and older only, please.) Four tickets to our annual fundraiser, Zoogala, which will be in September; adults only Four tickets to Zoolights in December 2014Four tickets to Zoo Year’s Eve December 31, 2014 Four tickets to Mother’s Day Brunch Four tickets to Father’s Day BrunchTwo tickets to a public Sleepover program, ages 5 and up Two Zoo day admission passes for you to bring two more guests to the zoo

Total value $1590

You can enter to win byanswering fun trivia in one

of two ways:1. Go to calgaryherald.com/zoo and press for the contest button. 2. Watch for an entry ballot in the pages of the Calgary Herald in the coming weeks; complete the ballot and take it to the zoo. More contest details will be found with the ballot.+

GOOD LUCK!

calgaryzoo.com

Client: Calgary zoo Docket: Czo-3310 File Description: Commemorative insert

Date: november 7, 2013 Size: 10.75” x 11.5” Colour: CmyK

Publication: Calgary herald

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