The Vancouver Humane Society, the BC SPCA, and allies in the Lower Mainland are celebrating a big win for animals as Port Moody prohibits mobile petting zoos!
Port Moody City Council voted to prohibit mobile live animal programs, which transport animals for human entertainment, on January 21st.
Mobile petting zoos pose many animal welfare concerns:
Transportation to different locations can be an inherently stressful process for many species.
The animals used in these zoos are typically transported and kept in undersized cages or units that may also lack other elements they need to engage in important natural behaviours, like appropriate substrate and enrichment items.
Animals can develop chronic stress and health issues as a result of disrupted eating, sleeping, and drinking patterns, and from being exposed to unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and human handling and interactions.
Read or watch more about this win for animals in the articles below!
CBC News
“These events really perpetuate the notion that animals are here for our entertainment, which is certainly not a message we should be teaching children,” Emily Pickett said in an interview televised on CBC News.
Port Moody, B.C., will adopt a corporate policy banning mobile live animal programs from operating on public or private land in the city.
“Thursday, the BC SPCA and VHS lauded Port Moody’s decision.
‘The BC SPCA is thrilled to see local governments like the City of Port Moody make progressive policy decisions to enhance animal welfare in their communities,’ said Nadia Xenakis, the BC SPCA’s wild animal welfare specialist, in a news release.”
A report being presented to Port Moody councillors on Tuesday, Jan. 21, says mobile live animal programs have little educational value
“Petting zoos and other mobile displays featuring live animals could soon be banned in Port Moody.”
Last week, a representative from the Vancouver Humane Society attended a Port Moody City Council meeting to speak in support of a ban on mobile petting zoos, following a presentation from the BC SPCA recommending a ban.
Mobile petting zoos pose many animal welfare concerns:
Transportation to different locations can be an inherently stressful process for many species.
The animals used in these zoos are typically transported and kept in undersized cages or units that may also lack other elements they need to engage in important natural behaviours, like appropriate substrate and enrichment items.
Animals can develop chronic stress and health issues as a result of disrupted eating, sleeping, and drinking patterns, and from being exposed to unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and human handling and interactions.
A report will be presented to council’s governance and legislation committee on Tuesday, January 21, recommending restrictions on mobile live animal programs in the city.
The VHS has reached out to City Council with further recommendations to help ensure exemptions do not compromise the well-being of animals.
The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has prompted some conservation experts to push for change.
The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Calgary Zoo has prompted conservation experts to push for change.
According to CTV News Calgary, “The zoo said on Tuesday that Eyare, a female western lowland gorilla, had been injured while moving between back-of-house spaces.”
“The zoo declined to share any further details about the gorilla’s fatal injuries or what caused them, saying an investigation is underway and a necropsy will be completed.”
Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, called the lack of transparency about the incident “disturbing”.
The Calgary Zoo previously underwent a review from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for unusual and frequent animal deaths between 2005 and 2010, with fatal incidents continuing throughout the next decade.
Zoocheck founder Rob Laidlaw said, “If you’re trying to say you’re breeding animals or keeping animals for conservation and they’re dying from all these mishaps and other things … that’s counter to what you’re telling the public that you want to do.”
Multiple tragic animal deaths at zoos across North America and around the world have been brought to the public’s attention this year, including:
Jenga the giraffe, who was found dead in his enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo on October 23rd;
Sakura the red panda, who had recently given birth after being transferred from the Greater Vancouver Zoo to the Toronto Zoo, and one of her two cubs;
Roxie the red panda, who died due to noise stress from fireworks in Edinburgh;
Baffin the polar bear, who drowned in the Calgary Zoo’s new exhibit after he sustained a bite to the throat;
Twelve monkeys who died from a bacterial outbreak at a zoo in Hong Kong.
Tragic deaths at zoos are typically followed by a necropsy to determine the cause, such as illness or injury. Physical and psychological stressors can contribute to premature death in captive animals.
Wild and exotic animals’ needs are not being met in zoos and aquariums
In addition to deadly incidents, wild and exotic animals regularly suffer when kept in captivity in zoos and aquariums.
Wild and exotic animals are living out their entire lives thousands of kilometres away from their home climates, in enclosures that cannot replicate the size and complexity of their natural habitats. They are unable to engage in many natural behaviours that are crucial to their physical, social and psychological well-being.
Take action
Here in B.C., the Vancouver Humane Society has been engaging with provincial decision-makers to call for changes to captivity regulations, including prohibiting the breeding and import of exotic animals for permanent captivity.
Can you sign the petition to help protect animals from suffering in captivity?
Jenga the giraffe tragically died at the Greater Vancouver Zoo on October 23rd at just eight years old – a fraction of the natural lifespan of giraffes in the wild. He lived his life in a small, cold enclosure, nothing like the natural habitat of his wild counterparts.
The Vancouver Humane Society is calling for provincial decision-makers to immediately address the outdated regulations around the keeping, breeding, and transport of wild and exotic animals. Please sign the petition to help prevent further suffering of wild and exotic animals in captivity.
Scroll down to learn more about Jenga’s sad death and ongoing welfare concerns at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Jenga, our beloved eight-year-old giraffe,” the zoo said in a statement.
“Giraffes are reported to have a median life expectancy of between 14 to 20 years, with some living up to 25 years in the wild. According to conservation groups, there are about 117,000 giraffes left worldwide.”
“Jenga is not the first animal death at the zoo. Between 2003 and 2015, the deaths of four giraffes, four zebras, two hippos and two Siberian tigers were reported, according to the Vancouver Humane Society.”
Vancouver Humane Society Campaign Director Emily Pickett shares animal welfare concerns over the Greater Vancouver Zoo after its latest resident death.
“In the wild, giraffes live in large herds; they have a large home range. Their natural habitat is typically arid and dry. They’re browsing animals that are adapted to foraging and feeding predominantly on leaves and stems of trees and shrubs.”
“But at the Greater Vancouver Zoo, Jenga lived a very different life. He lived with only a couple of other giraffes in a small and barren enclosure with little to no opportunity to engage in many of those natural behaviours.”
Sparked by the death of a giraffe, some are sharing their concerns for the welfare of the animals at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
“The Vancouver Humane Society calls the death tragic and suggests that Jenga’s life was not the life a giraffe deserves. It adds that while Jenga died at eight years old, giraffes generally live up to 25 years in the wild.”
“The Vancouver Humane Society is reminding the public of several incidents since 2019 regarding the well-being of animals at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.”
Caretakers and fans of the Greater Vancouver Zoo are mourning the sudden passing of the beloved giraffe Jenga this week.
“Vancouver Humane Society issued a statement on the ‘tragic life and death of Jenga the giraffe,’ urging the zoo to address ‘ongoing welfare issues.'”
“‘We’re saddened to learn of the death of another animal at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Jenga the giraffe was only eight years old, which is a fraction of the lifespan for giraffes in the wild,’ said campaign director Emily Pickett in a release. ‘The Vancouver Humane Society has been calling on the zoo for many years to address long-standing animal welfare issues and to move away from keeping animals in permanent captivity.'”
The Calgary Zoo has had polar bears since 1938. Each generation has been confident that the bear’s enclosures were more humane than the past…
This is not the first time that concerns have been raised about the Calgary Zoo’s keeping of polar bears.
Earlier this year, Alberta Views published an article by George Colpitts, an environmental historian at the University of Calgary, outlining the fraught history of the zoo’s polar bear enclosures. The piece explores the pattern of poor welfare and incidents that have plagued the zoo’s polar bear enclosures since they opened in 1938.
Dr. Colpitts expressed skepticism that the new exhibit, opened in December 2023, could fully meet the bears’ needs.
Polar bears and other animals show signs of boredom and stress in zoos
The VHS sent a letter to the editor outlining inherent issues with keeping animals such as polar bears, who have complex social, behavioural, and physiological needs, in captivity for the entertainment of the public.
Read the full response on page 3 of the Alberta Views opinions section, and take action to protect animals from suffering in captivity.
In a bid to draw attention to the ongoing and dangerous problem of keeping exotic wildlife in captivity, either in zoos or as house pets, World Animal Protection Canada is building a new database and interactive online map to document all the events it can find.
“In a bid to draw attention to the ongoing and dangerous problem of keeping exotic wildlife in captivity, either in zoos or as house pets, World Animal Protection Canada is building a new database and interactive online map to document all the events it can find.”
Michèle Hamers, wildlife campaign manager for World Animal Protection Canada, hopes that the database will “compel people to ask for more comprehensive laws to protect animals and people.”
Typically, bylaws and provincial laws around wild and exotic animals include a prohibited animals list. These lists can leave gaps that allow many wild and exotic species who do not thrive in captivity to be kept as pets, while even more can be kept in facilities such as zoos and aquariums.
The VHS is calling on the B.C. government to introduce better protections for wild and exotic animals in captivity, including adopting a positive list approach, which allows only those species that meet certain evidence-based suitability criteria to be kept, bred and transported.
The snake, one of the largest in the world, is illegal to possess in British Columbia
“Conservation officers have seized a nearly three-metre-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.”
While this particular species of snake is illegal to keep in B.C., MANY other wild and exotic species are, in fact, legal to keep as pets. But wild and exotic animals, whether wild-caught or captive-bred, retain their complex social, physiological and behavioural needs that they would have in the wild. As a result, they can experience significant suffering when kept as pets.
The VHS has been calling on the B.C. government for better protections for wild and exotic animals. Add your name in support!
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is trying to breed more red pandas, however the Vancouver Humane Society said the program keeps mammals in captivity, while not immediately benefiting animals in the wild.
The Vancouver Humane Society has weighed in on the planned breeding of red pandas at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in a new article from the CBC.
The breeding is part of a “Species Survival Plan”, a program by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) which maintains captive animal populations at AZA facilities. Zoo officials comment that captive bred red pandas could be reintroduced back into the wild “if needed”.
However, the program does not immediately benefit animals in the wild.
Chantelle Archambault, Communications Director for the Vancouver Humane Society, said the organization is disappointed to see the zoo bringing in another red panda for breeding.
“We know the program brings a lot of financial benefit to the zoo, but the cost of that is there’s more animals who will spend their entire lives in captivity in a foreign and unfamiliar environment that can’t meet all their needs,” said Archambault.
“Breeding exotic animals halfway around the world to be kept in a zoo their whole life is not about conservation,” she said.
The two red pandas born at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in June 2022, Maple and Mei Mei, have since been moved to other zoos in Canada.
A new red panda has arrived at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Named “Paprika,” the new critter is being brought in as a partner for another red panda, Arun.
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is once again planning to breed red pandas a continent away from their native habitat. Without a reintroduction plan in place, they will spend their entire lives in captivity.
“‘This important introduction is a part of our species survival plan for Red Pandas and will hopefully lead to future little Red Panda cubs! (we hope ??),’ the zoo said on Facebook.”
The two red pandas born at the zoo in 2022, Maple and Mei Mei, were moved to Assiniboine Park Zoo in Manitoba and Zoo de Granby in Quebec.
Captivity and conservation are not the same thing. Here are a few questions to ask to find out if a conservation program helps wildlife.
Does it make a tangible difference for animals in the wild?
Does it protect natural habitats and/or address the threats species face in the wild?
Does it support the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of native wildlife in their natural habitats?
If captive breeding occurs, is there a plan in place to reintroduce animals into their native habitats when they are old enough to survive in the wild?
The Vancouver Humane Society is calling for meaningful changes to prevent the suffering of animals in captivity.
