Disappointment at the Zoo

I love the Toronto Zoo. I always have. It is - bar none - my favourite attraction in the GTA. Yet I hadn't managed to get there for several years. Before today. Now, with The Little Ninja in tow, it was clear that we would have to go this time, much to my own delight.

Perhaps my expectations were too high. I had, after all, been idealising the place in my head for a good 10 years. I had been looking forward to the zoo since I planned the trip to Canada in the first place. I had even checked out the website to see what special animals would be on display. I guess I had set myself up for disappointment.

My Dad might possibly have mentioned at some point that the zoo wasn't doing all that well and the city was considering privatising it (in my opinion a good idea, especially after my experiences) and that there was some protest about the elephants in the Canadian climate, but I had waved away these minor points as they obviously could not possibly affect my wondrous zoo experience.

Well. What a frickin disappointment. Maybe the zoo isn't doing that well, but I paid $23/person PLUS $10 parking and I damn well expected to see lots of animals. We didn't see any cheetahs, though I am willing to believe there is one somewhere in the massive enclosure, though before today I would have bet on more. But there was only one lonely giraffe, one rhino, one lion, one tiger, one antelope - it was like the zoo in Madagascar - one sad example of each of those fantastic animals. And the pride of the zoo, the polar bears, were in the far enclosure where you could barely see them off on the grass, rather than in the viewing enclosure.

I understand that it's no longer high season. That was clear in the many empty kiosks we passed, the closed restaurants and the shortened opening hours. But I paid full admission and I expect to see animals! The pavilions closed at 3:30 and the whole zoo closed at 4:30. We didn't even get to see the special sting ray exhibit. Or a bunch of other things, but the zoo is really, really big and I didn't really expect to see the other things. The polar bears were not really on display. But my biggest disappointment was the lack of some animals. Those mainstays of zoo visits, lions and tigers and bears; oh my, what a disgrace. Come on, Toronto; it is not fair to the animals or the visitors to have just one of these animals. Either find some more or send them off to another zoo to at least have some company. I don't need to walk for an hour to get around the Africa area of the zoo just to see one lion, one giraffe, one antelope and not find any cheetahs at all. (The cheetahs are my favourite...)

That said, the elephants were still there (at least two) and the hippos (also two) were fun to watch. If, however, as my Dad reports, the elephants are to be sent to San Francisco or somewhere else warm, only the hippos will remain as a positive point. And that's not good enough. Toronto Zoo used to be one of the best in the world. And I don't think that's all in my head. I fervently hope that the city sells it to some zoo operator that knows its business because there is no reason (especially at those prices) for the zoo not to be a top-rate attraction!