Toronto Zoo considers re-branding, shifting focus to wildlife conservation

The zoo’s latest strategic plan, still a draft, sets its sights on becoming "the leader in wildlife conservation," with "a shift towards more of a Canadian focus," though the zoo will also continue overseas conservation initiatives, Ted Silberberg of Lord Cultural Resources told the board.

Re-branding itself as a "zoo-based conservation centre of excellence," as the plan proposes, is a step many zoos have taken, Silberberg said.

The World Wildlife Fund says the planet’s fish, bird, mammal and reptile populations plunged 52 per cent from 1970 to 2010.

Hobbled by low budgets, the zoo has done conservation work - such as re-introducing Vancouver Island marmots, Blanding’s turtles and other threatened species to the wild - but supporters and staff want to do much more, while educating Canadians about environmental issues.

Part of this proposed re-branding – the strategic plan should be finalized and released to the public in a month – could be a name change.

"We’re venturing into a historical moment," said Giorgio Mammoliti, a board member who said some zoos, moving to a conservation focus, renamed themselves.

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Mammoliti, a North York councillor, proposed CEO John Tracogna report a month from now whether the board should change "the name of Toronto Zoo."

Some other members, however, said this was too controversial a move to contemplate at the last meeting of the current board, which will be reconstituted soon. Mammoliti’s motion was defeated.

He was narrowly able, however, to persuade the board to call for a "strategy for achieving (the zoo’s) financial independence" from the city in 10 years.

"There are some of us who believe we can do a better job without the interference of government," said Mammoliti, arguing the zoo should "finally break free from the hands of an organization that takes our profits."

He meant Toronto city council, which, he added, always sees the zoo as a low priority.

There were other reasons board members found to ask why the city has to "be in the zoo business," as one, Cal Bricker, put it.

In 2011, council voted to send the zoo’s three remaining elephants to a California sanctuary, setting off a long and public dispute with the zoo board, whose own directions for the elephants were overruled.

That led to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums pulling its accreditation, a blow, zoo staff have said, to both their institution’s status and conservation efforts.

The way to get AZA’s seal of approval back, zoo management has suggested, is to have council guarantee "the zoo makes decisions relating to animal matters."

The strategic plan does call for an "update" of legal agreements with the city to define responsibilities of the board, but many board members would go further, as demonstrated by its proposal in 2012 to turn the zoo over to an independent body of "prominent corporate, community and business leaders."

Both Silberberg and Glenn De Baeremaeker, a Scarborough councillor who supported the elephant’s move to California, said the zoo was unlikely to gain its financial independence anytime soon.

There was a big fight over where the elephants would go, but the zoo’s elephant facilities "were unacceptable," and not up to today’s standards, said De Baeremaeker.

The city, in the late 1980s, paid 60 per cent of the zoo’s operating costs; that’s down to 20 per cent, but zoo would still be unwise to say, "We don’t want your money."

The zoo, recognizing the need to reinvest in its aging facilities, also plans to create an independent fundraising body.

Board member Sabrina Fiorellino, however, said potential donors have refused to give money until the zoo’s operations are clearly separated from those of the city.

"Being connected to them is actually hurting our ability to raise private funds," she said.

The plan sees much potential in a partnership with the Rouge National Urban Park – emerging around the zoo’s 700 acres in Scarborough - including joint opportunities for education, marketing and advocacy.

The board, during Thursday’s meeting, approved a $16-million contract for a new Wildlife Health Centre.

The current hospital and recovery area for zoo animals "evolved within the original Zoo animal holding building," and inspecting agencies, including the AZA in 2008, said it failed to meet current standards.