For the past year and a half,
a fierce battle has raged over whether three African elephants should stay in
their decades-old home at the Toronto Zoo.
But it's a battle that some
experts say is now at the centre of a larger North American debate about the
future of elephants in zoos.
Watch the fifth
estate on Friday at 9 p.m. (9:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador) and join
their live chat during the show.
Since the facility opened in
1974, the Toronto Zoo has always had elephants.
Deciding to stop housing the
showstopping animals that bring so many visitors through its front gates is no
easy decision —and one that's put it at the centre of a larger North American
debate about the future of elephants in zoos.
In an interview with CBC's the
fifth estate, internationally renowned zoo director and architect David
Hancocks thinks that zoos are "on the cusp of a major paradigm
shift."
While people have wondered for
years whether a zoo can exist without the presence of an elephant, Hancocks
suggests a different future. "I suspect as soon as 10 years time we'll
probably hear people say, 'How can you call yourself a zoo if you've got an
elephant in it?'"
80 acres vs. two
The Toronto Zoo saga began in
May, 2011, when the board recommended an end to its elephant program, and that
its three remaining female pachyderms — Toka, Thika and Iringa — be moved due
to costs and other factors.
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