Canadian Zoos

Toronto Zoo - Ontario

The Toronto Zoo is partially funded by the City of Toronto and operated by a management board which includes a city councilor. There is also the Toronto Zoo Foundation with a board of directors which overseas the fund raising activities. The Toronto Zoo is accredited by both AZA and CAZA.

Information available from the studbook indicates that the Toronto Zoo has kept 10 African elephants over the years of which three are noted as dead.

• Tara - female, wild caught from Mozambique, estimated year of birth (EYB) 1969
• Tessa - female, wild caught in Mozambique EYB 1969
• Iringa - female, wild caught in Mozambique, EYB 1969
• Tequila - female, wild caught in Mozambique EYB 1970
• Toka - female, wild caught in Mozambique, EYB 1970
• Thika - female, born at Toronto Zoo to mother Tequila and father Tantor in 1980
• Patsy - female, wild-caught in Mozambique EYB 1967

The following elephants are marked as having died in the studbook:

• Tantor - male, wild caught in Mozambique, EYB 1969, died 1989
• Toronto - female born at Toronto Zoo to mother Toka and father Tantor in 1984, died in 1994
• TW - female, born at the Toronto Zoo to Mother Tessa and father Tantor, died two days after birth

I visited this zoo on the 7th day of September, 2006. There were a total of seven African elephants on display in an enclosure split into two by a walkway. The elephants wandered around, some singly and others in pairs. They dusted themselves and fed on hay piles situated throughout the enclosure. The elephants showed no visible injuries or difficulties walking around. Stereotypic behavior was not observed.

The elephant enclosure has no trees or shrubs, just man made structures, rocks, termite mounds, fake tree stumps and huge umbrella-like structures. This was in stark contrast to the lush vegetation all around the zoo. There was a pool in one of the enclosures.

One of the information bulletins contained information on the various ways the keepers have devised to keep the elephants interested. This included treats hidden in the termite mound like structures, shade umbrellas with nozzles that sprayed a cooling mist on the elephants and food in barrels tied high up in the ground for elephants to find. A discussion with one of the keepers indicated that keeping the elephants busy was a big challenge. Foot infections were a problem, especially with the older females. Protected contact is used with all the elephants.

This zoo has an African elephant called Thika. The author was born and brought up in Thika, a beautiful little town in Kenya, just north of Nairobi.

According to the stud book record, Thika was the only surviving calf of the three born in the Toronto Zoo. She was also the youngest female here, being only 26. If she was in the wild in Kenya, she would probably have two calves by now. She would not have to look at lush vegetation from across the fence but would have access to the beautiful forests of the Aberdare mountain range just north of Thika town.

At approximately 7 acres, the Toronto Zoo elephant enclosure was larger than some of the other zoos I visited in Canada. That said it is still extremely small in comparison to 2700 acres afforded to the elephants living at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee which is a mere fraction of the size of the area an elephant in the wild would utilize in their lifetime. It appears that the staff at the Toronto Zoo are attempting various ways of enriching the elephant’s lives, but the fact that artificial enrichment is necessary is a symptom that the environment is deficient to start with. Lack of enrichment is a consistent problem with the majority of North American zoos that keep elephants, as are the foot problems experienced by captive elephants.