Calgary Zoo highlights local creatures for World Animal Day
Posted Oct 4, 2014 3:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Calgary Zoo is hoping people will use World Animal Day as an opportunity to think about some of the animals in their own backyard.
Trish Exton-Parder, a spokesperson for the zoo, said the fieldwork of local biologists, in terms of animal conservation and welfare, goes beyond the boundary of the zoo , making a significant difference to animal groups like the black-footed ferret, the whooping crane, and the swift foxes.
“It’s a really wonderful story that we’ve been involved in for years because we really brought this fox back from extinction years ago, so they were basically extricated in the area that they were in so they were brought back,” she said. “It’s one of the best reintroduction stories out there and the fact that we were a part of it is really something to be proud of.”
World Animal Day was started over 80 years ago by a group of ecologists hoping to shed light on the struggles of endangered species around the globe.
For the special day, a respected animal expert – formerly of the Calgary Zoo – is back with in the city with a special story about a bear.
Else Poulsen wrote ‘Bärle’s Story: One Polar Bear’s Amazing Recovery from Life as a Circus Act.’
The behaviour specialist said the bear’s rescue from Puerto Rico, along with six others, was tough.
“It’s very difficult to cool them off, they’re like little nuclear reactors once they start overheating, it’s difficult to bring them back down again,” she said. “But there was no choice because there is never a cold time in Puerto Rico, as a result, one of the bears died in transit, it just broke our heart.
Poulsen describes the struggles and triumphs Bärle went through as she recovered from the trauma, at her new home in the Detroit Zoo where she met Poulsen.
The author hopes the story helps change people’s attitudes toward using animals for entertainment.
Exton-Parder said she encourages anyone heading to the zoo Saturday to take is as an opportunity to learn a little more about the conservation work being done out of Calgary and to not be afraid to ask questions.
