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SCARBOROUGH

News

Could the Toronto Zoo lose its Canadian accreditation next?

By Nino Meese-Tamuri | Posted: Apr 28 2012 5:24 pm

COURTESY DEREKP

The Toronto Zoo may lose another vital accreditation over city council's plan to move the aging elephants to a non-accredited sanctuary in California.

About a week ago, the Toronto Zoo lost its golden seal from the American-based Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Now, the president of the union representing the zoos animal keepers is concerned the Canadian accreditation may follow. That is a very strong possibility, said Grant Ankenman. At the present time our membership with CAZA (the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums) is under review and there is a very strong chance that we will have that revoked as well. The two organizations are very similar in principle. The Toronto Zoo lost its AZA accreditation over governance issues. In its unanimous vote, the AZA board of directors found the zoo did not have control over its animals. This became obvious when city council was able to decide to move the zoos aging elephants to a non-AZA-accredited sanctuary in California despite the zoos protest. This was the first loss of its accreditation in the zoos history. CEO John Tracogna regretted the decision to suspend his zoo. Clearly, we are disappointed with the decision made by the AZA, Tracogna said. There was never any question of the Toronto Zoos animal care. Governance was the key issue. The zoo will not be able to re-apply for accreditation before Mar. 1, 2013. Ankenman is worried about the consequences of this. In the short term it may not affect us too much. It mostly hurts our reputation, Ankenman said. I think the real test will be a year from now. If were rejected then, then its definitely much more serious.
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Key to whether the zoo can get its membership back will be the central governance issue. We have been working diligently to create a stronger governance model, Tracogna said. We will provide an update on this new model in the near future. If the zoo cannot work out new governance guidelines with the city, Ankenman doesnt see how it can get its accreditation back.

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By: Nino Meese-Tamuri Posted: Apr 28 2012 5:24 pm Edition: Scarborough Filed in: News Tagged:

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