Calgary Zoo to build $24.5-million penguin exhibit

A gentoo penguin eats a fish snack in its enclosure at the Melbourne Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia, May 25. Melbourne Aquarium began its breeding program with the arrival of 16 new king and gentoo penguins, obtained through aquarium-bred stocks from Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. Photograph by: Mick Tsikas, Reuters

Calgary Zoo to build $24.5-million penguin exhibit by next spring


By Kim Guttormson Calgary Herald, Calgary HeraldJuly 30, 2009

The Calgary Zoo plans to start building a $24.5-million penguin exhibit — featuring about 80 birds from four species — by next spring after the project spent months in limbo.

It’s the only piece of the ambitious Arctic Shores proposal that will be built in the near future.

Antarctic Landing will give visitors a chance to see King, rockhopper, Gentoo and Humboldt penguins at play, including a viewing area in the middle of a chilly indoor pool that allows the birds to be seen both above and underwater.

There will also be a separate outdoor pool.

“It will be one of the most eagerly anticipated openings in quite some time,” Don Peterkin, the zoo’s director of facilities, said of the display they hope to open in 2011. “It’s one of those exhibits that absolutely captures people’s imaginations.”

The Calgary Zoo will join Montreal’s Biodome and the West Edmonton Mall with a penguin exhibit.

Gillian Gibbs-Gray, at the zoo with five-year-old Emily and three-year-old son Jamie, said the birds would be a draw.

“Absolutely, my kids would love it,” she said. “We love the opportunity to see animals we wouldn’t otherwise get to experience.

“I know the zoo’s had some tough times, I hope they think it through and it’s something that will be sustainable.”

This fall the zoo will ask the city to free up $14.5 million already committed to the project and will take plans to its board of directors for approval.

The city typically releases its share of funding when a group has hit the 90 per cent fundraising mark.

The zoo also has $3.6 million remaining from a grant previously given by the province and $3 million generated in interest on the overall grant. It is also launching a $3.4-million fundraising campaign for private donations.

The 18,000-square-foot Antarctic Landing — plus a 6,000-square-foot gift shop — is a small piece of what was originally envisioned as Arctic Shores. When a development permit was filed on that project in 2006, it was expected to be a 294,554-square-foot facility with a price tag of more than $120 million and an opening date of next year. Polar bears, beluga whales, penguins, seals and arctic foxes were all on the list of animals being considered.

But soaring construction prices saw the zoo start to scale it back the following year, removing belugas from the wish list to rein in costs. Polar bears, otters and penguins were still hoped for, but donations also weren’t pouring in.

“It became cost prohibitive,” said Grahame Newton, the zoo’s chief financial officer.

Now, spending less than a fifth of the original estimate, penguins will be the sole featured attraction.

An outdoor, 1.5-metre deep pool with a rocky shoreline will house Humboldt penguins — warm weather birds found living along the Pacific coast of South America — in the summer. Part of the rocky slab can be heated, to accommodate Calgary’s cooler nights and only Plexiglas will separate birds from patrons.

In the colder months, King penguins — the second largest species, usually found on subantarctic islands such as South Georgia — will take up residence outside.

The second pool will be indoors and climate controlled to keep it cool for the Gentoos and Rockhoppers, also subantarctic birds, as well as the Kings during the summer.

Visitors will walk in through the middle of the pool, just over a metre of Plexiglas on either side, so they can see the penguins on the rocks or swimming around. Peterkin said the pool will continue under the pathway — which will have glass viewing areas in the floor — so the penguins can swim in a loop, as they like to do.

The new exhibit comes on the heels of some controversy at the zoo, including the death of 41 of cow nose rays last year, which was blamed on human error.

Its newest baby elephant, Malti, died at 15 months last fall after contracting elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.

In October 2007, a hippo died after being confined too long in a shipping crate while travelling to Calgary from Denver. And in the span of a year, between 2006 and 2007, four gorillas died at the zoo.

Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck, said the penguins are a bad idea.

“I’ve seen a lot of penguin exhibits and very few of them are up to snuff when you look at (the birds’) behaviour,” he said, pointing to the fact many species in the wild wander over a large expanse. “We’d certainly like to see the zoo stop going for these big entertainment-based types of attractions.”

Dee Boersma, the Wadsworth endowed chair in conservation science at the University of Washington and with Penguin Sentinels, said the birds do quite well in zoos, if they have the appropriate environment.

“As long as they’ve got food, they’re fairly happy,” Boersma said, adding the four species that will live in Calgary are never found together in the wild. “Whether you like zoos or not, that’s one issue. But the real issue is most people are never going to see penguins in the wild.

“If we really want to conserve these species in the world, we have to make room for them and people have to care about them. If you never see them, you’re never going to care about them.”

Pointing to her local zoo, she said the penguin exhibit is a success, where “the kids just go wild and so do the penguins, chasing people’s fingers (along the Plexiglas.)”

Cheryl Martin, at the zoo with her son Kyle, 5, and Kim Zizakovic, with daughter Milana, 6, and son Maksim, 5, said given the slew of animated penguins in movies recently, the birds will appeal to kids.

“I think it will be really interesting,” Martin said, “but animal safety is paramount.”

Kyle said he’d like to see the birds, deeming them “cute,” an opinion echoed by Milana.

Source:
kguttormson@theherald. canwest.com
http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Calgary+build+million+penguin+exhibit+next+spring/1844847/story.html