Toronto Zoo shifts toward conservation, but critics want to eradicate animal captivity

CTV National News: Partial conservation at zoos CTV’s Kamil Karamali on if the partial conservation shift for zoos will be enough to appease public pressure against animal captivity.

The Toronto Zoo has been making a gradual, yet seismic shift towards prioritizing conservation and climate-change, focusing on breeding rare and endangered animals in the past few years.

But critics say the zoo should focus all its resources on breeding animals for eventual release instead of keeping animals in captivity for display.

"What you're seeing is this zoo is making this jump from place to purpose," said Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong in an interview with CTV News on Sunday, adding it has roughly 1.3-million visitors each year.

"It'll be really subtle... we'll be making links to how the animals here, and what's going on here, are connected to what's happening out there."

DeJong says there are at least eight Canadian species that are rare or endangered that the zoo is breeding for eventual release, including the Massasauga rattlers, Vancouver Island marmots and Blanding's turtles.

"Those are animals where we have a lot of experience and expertise," said DeJong. "Reptiles, turtles and snakes... all examples of species that have had significant declines and they needed this help."

He adds that the zoo has also reduced the number of species it has in its care from 440 species about six years ago -- now down to roughly 300, with plans to reduce it even further.

"Now we're going to keep evolving, making sure all the animals in our care really do have a purpose helping their wild counterparts -- and it'll probably get to under 200 [species] ultimately."

DeJong also pointed to the Amur tigers, which will become the zoo's sole tiger species after its one other Sumatran tiger lives out its life. DeJong says the zoo will focus more resources on the Amur tiger because of its dwindling numbers, instead of the species having to share zoo resources with two tiger species.

"For now, for the foreseeable future, they'll be in our care exclusively," said DeJong. "But we'll be working with other accredited zoos as part of the 'species survival plan,' to make sure we have viable genetics that resemble the wild population so they can be used in that capacity."

Critics say zoos should be phased out of society

Critics of modern-day zoos have claimed there continues to be increased public pressure to stray away from animal captivity and focus solely on animal conservation.

"I think what the public probably wants is animals that are there because its a refuge or animals that are there because we are breeding them for eventual release," said Emma Marris, author of "Wild Souls," which explores human-animal relationships and the ethics around them.

"I don't think most people in the public really want zoos to be breeding animals just for display for many, many generations," added Marris. "If they're being bred, then their children and grandchildren will never be released, and I think that's something that the public is less supportive of these days."

She says she is not in favour of a complete eradication of zoos, but they can gradually transition to focusing on other more “ethical” mandates.

"As those [current] animals reach the end of their natural life span, [the zoo] can shift to being refuges and conservational breeding centres -- and also centres for education, for plant-collections, for activities, concerts, what lots of zoos are doing anyways to diversify what they can offer the public."

A study conducted by Toronto Metropolitan University's psychology department also shows there is compassion fatigue among animal-care professionals at the Toronto zoo due to systemic issues at the zoo, highlighting a stronger need to create more support for both staff and animals.

"We essentially found that compassion-fatigue among the staff arose from several issues. Some of these were systemic issues, such as understaffing and inadequate training, as well as resource limitations," said Krischanda Bemister, principal investigator and one of the authors of the study.

"These challenges didn't only affect the well-being of the staff, but staff were also adamant of the downstream implications for animal welfare too," added Bemister in a Zoom interview with CTV News on Sunday. "Our findings underscore the need for mental health resources that are tailored to the specific challenges of working with animals."

DeJong says he believes there are still benefits to the commercial element of the zoo, in supporting the conservation initiatives but to also allow the public access to the wildlife.

"They're realizing the link and role we're playing, connecting to nature, and we need to be doing more work protecting animals," said DeJong.

"The reality is, to my critics, a lot of these animals, out of sight, out of mind, off the planet -- and we need to come together around that shared care."

Zoos focusing on long-term species survival

The zoo's reproductive lab has also seen a shift towards conservation, prioritizing embryos and sperm of animals that are becoming rarer or facing extinction.

"Behind it all, it's the research and the 'making babies' to put them back into the film," said Gabriela Mastromonaco, senior director of Wildlife Science at Toronto Zoo.

She adds that the embryo and sperm of more common species are also stored in case they face survival challenges in the future.

"We will freeze sperm and embryos, we'll use them today, but we'll also keep them in the storage for the future -- in the event of a climate crisis, a natural disaster, then we have an insurance policy, the genetics to bring out and put back into the population."

Mastramonoca says part of the more recent shift is that they're prioritizing freezing sperm and embryos of animals that are threatened or endangered -- with “targeted sampling.”

"We're really putting the financial and timed resources behind making sure we have caribou in the bank, muskox in the bank, wood bison in the bank."

When asked about critics who want zoos to completely shift away from putting animals on display for public entertainment -- she believes that each animal at the zoo serves a purpose, whether its for public education or breeding -- all falling under the purview of conservation.

"We're not reducing the number of animals, but reducing the number of species, so we can focus on what their purpose can be," said Mastramonoca about the zoo's plan to eventually reduce the number of species at the zoo down to 200. "Conservation is a long-term game, it's not an overnight situation."

DeJong also adds the zoos shift towards conservation will “keep evolving and growing."

"I think this is a really great next step," said DeJong. "Embracing education, conservation, research as one piece and not picking and choosing."