Accreditation helps zoo move on following animal deaths

Coming just four months after the death of 40 cownose rays, the Calgary Zoo must be happier than a hippo in mud at its recent re-accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The stamp of approval by the U.S.-based organization makes Calgary one of only five zoos in Canada and 217 in North America with accreditation.

“It is absolutely very important to us,” says zoo spokeswoman Laurie Herron.

But Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck, a Toronto-based zoo watchdog group, is less impressed.

“It’s zoo people looking at zoo people,” says Laidlaw, who adds the accreditation is analogous to a police force investigating itself. His organization advocates independent, third-party inspections with government oversight.

Herron says inspections are rigorous and exceed government standards.

“It’s not a walk in the park, the way some zoo opponents think,” she said.

The association has pulled accreditation from members, recently reinstating the Baltimore Zoo after a year on probation for faulty maintenance. A report by the organization also found the San Francisco zoo was “dangerously understaffed” at the time of an attack by a Siberian tiger that left two people injured and one dead last Christmas.

The Calgary Zoo has had its share of problems in the past year, including the death of a hippo in October following a 29-hour truck ride from Colorado and the May deaths of 40 cownose rays in a touch tank.

Herron said zoo officials are reviewing a lab report on the death of the rays and may be in a position to release it next week.

The zoo also had two high-profile animal deaths in 2004 and 2006 when mothers abandoned a baby elephant and baby gorilla, a situation officials say is not unusual in the wild.

It’s also had two recent success stories. In May, the zoo celebrated the birth of Yewanda, a western lowland gorilla, the most common of the gorilla species, who was born shortly after the death of the rays. The zoo also saw the arrival of a baby giraffe in July.

Zoos must apply every five years to be re-accredited by the association, which scrutinizes members for animal care, veterinary programs, conservation, education and safety. Accreditation also allows the zoo to remain part of the organization’s endangered species breeding program.

Still, Laidlaw says government inspections are preferable to a peer-reviewed accreditation process. He said Zoocheck regards the Calgary Zoo as average in terms of its record.

“If you look at the totality of zoos, it is somewhere in the middle. Certainly there are a lot of facilities that are worse.”

He says the organization is opposed to “Disneyland” style exhibits such as the Calgary Zoo’s proposed Arctic Shores, which would feature polar bears.

The zoo has a $120-million expansion plan, which includes the Arctic Shores area, a conservatory upgrade and 500 additional parking stalls. The city and province have committed $30 million and $35 million, respectively, with the federal government non-committal.

Herron says Zoocheck’s criticisms are misplaced. It would be better for it to lobby for upgraded government regulations covering roadside zoos and private exhibits of exotic animals.

“AZA sets the highest standards in the industry that far exceed government regulations,” Herron says.

In the absence of government oversight, stringent self-regulation may be the best available option. And that, says Herron, is what the association provides.

“There is a real desire in the zoo community to keep the standard high. It would be self-defeating to accredit an institution if they didn’t meet the standard. They don’t want people slipping in under the radar and barely making it.”

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