new hippo, new zoo scandal
Date: August 19, 2004
Greater Vancouver Zoo brings new hippo to old, sub-standard facility
Aldergrove, BC - The Greater Vancouver Zoo has reportedly acquired a new hippopotamus despite failing to provide a long-promised new hippo enclosure, leaving the animal without appropriate accommodation, says the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) and Zoocheck Canada.
“The zoo lost its accreditation with the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) because its hippo enclosure was of such a poor standard,” said VHS spokesperson Peter Fricker. “Despite that they’ve reportedly acquired another hippo having done nothing to improve the existing enclosure. It’s totally irresponsible.”
Fricker said the zoo had publicly promised to build a new hippo enclosure with a heated barn and pool. It was to have been completed by the end of October, yet no work has been done on the facility. In August, one of the zoo’s two hippos, Gertrude, died of reported kidney disease and bacterial infection. Last year the two groups criticized the zoo for keeping the hippos in such poor conditions. Subsequently, in May 2004, the zoo lost its CAZA accreditation after the association demanded improvements to the hippo’s accommodation.
"I am disappointed that the GVZ has not learned its lesson about breaking promises to the people in the Greater Vancouver area and to the animals under their care," said Julie Woodyer, Campaigns Director for Zoocheck Canada. "This latest decision by the zoo seriously brings into question their commitment to seeking a reinstatement of CAZA accreditation. Rather than raising the standard of animal care, they seem to be slipping to the depths of a roadside zoo."
Gertrude was the third hippo to die at the zoo. In 1983 two hippos drowned when they crashed through the ice on their pond. VHS and Zoocheck are demanding that the zoo find a more appropriate facility to care for the hippos and move them before the cold weather sets in and history repeats itself.
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