Returning Animals to the Wild

• Returning Animals to the Wild involves various approaches and considerations to re-establish or bolster animal populations.

Terms

• The Ark: Focuses on preserving species that are either extinct or nearly extinct in the wild through ex-situ assurance populations.
• Protective Custody: Aims to maintain genetic diversity while providing time for habitat restoration, with the goal of eventual reintroduction.
• Assurance Colonies: Refers to maintaining captive populations outside their natural habitats to prevent extinction, serving as a safety net if in situ conservation efforts fail.

Establishing New Populations

• Translocation: Defined by the IUCN as intentionally moving living organisms to a new area for free release, aiming to create healthy, genetically diverse, self-sustaining populations or to improve existing ones.
  • Assisted colonization: Seeks to improve a species' conservation status by moving it outside its natural range.
  • Ecological replacement: Introduces a species outside its natural range to fulfill an ecological role lost due to another organism's extinction.
• Introduction: Releasing animals into a habitat where they have never occurred naturally, whether purposefully or accidentally.
• Reintroduction: Releasing animals into an area where their populations have declined or disappeared.
• Reinforcement: Supplementing an existing population by adding individuals from elsewhere.
• Rehabilitation: Training naïve animals to live in their natural habitat before releasing them into the wild.

Theoretical Considerations - Strategic Approach

• Hard release: Involves releasing animals directly from captivity without prior training or acclimatization.
• Soft release: Entails providing care for animals at the release site, such as time in cages, food, and shelter, to help them acclimatize.

Theoretical Considerations - Ten Questions

• Population Level: Assesses the success of a single reintroduced population based on:
  • Establishment: Focuses on determining the necessary number of individuals.
  • Persistence: Considers habitat quality, carrying capacity, and genetic health.
• Metapopulation Level: Examines how multiple populations interact across different spaces.
  • Considers the number of individuals needed from donor populations.
  • Aims to distribute individuals across different sites to enhance connectivity, reduce isolation, and prevent over-concentration.
• Ecosystem Level: Evaluates broader ecological impacts and interactions.
  • Assesses whether the species and any associated parasites are native to the area.
  • Predicts how reintroduction may affect other species and ecological processes like predation or competition.

Ecological Setting for Release

• Determine the reasons for decline: Identifying and addressing the initial causes of local extinction or decline of the target species.
• Assess life history: Life history traits inform population demography and establishment, encompassing:
  • Reproductive strategies: Focus on how many offspring are produced and when reproduction occurs.
• Timing of life cycle events: How long organisms spend growing before reaching maturity, etc..
• Assess the habitat: Influences age-specific birth and death rates and migration.

Practical Considerations

• Gaining local permission: Involving local landowners and authorities to approve captures, releases, and follow-ups.
• Capturing wild animals: Must involve thorough planning, research, veterinary oversight, and experienced personnel to minimize risks to animals.
• Transportation: Meeting animals' needs during travel (food, water, space, temperature control, protection from injury/escape).
• Site selection: Assessing if the area will meet the animals needs over the long term.
• Animal Release: Can create panic/disorientation.
• Monitoring: Involves tracking interactions among animals, between animals, and with the environment.

Measuring Success Empirically

• Habitat Quality: High-quality habitats improve survival and reproduction rates.
• Historic Range: Releases within the species' former range have higher success than introductions outside of it.
• Number of animals released: Larger populations increase chances of survival and genetic diversity
• Taxonomic class: Birds, mammals show high success rates when compared to amphibians
• Legal status: Native game species receive more support than endangered or invasive ones
• Program length: Multi-year release programs are more successful than one-time efforts
• Potential productivity of the species: Species with high reproductive rates are more likely to establish self-sustaining populations.

Problems with Translocations

• Allocation of Resources: Balancing habitat restoration with captive breeding efforts.
• Dispersal of Released Animals: Animals can move beyond the reintroduction zone
• Environmental Carrying Capacity (K): Determining how many animal individuals a habitat can support, especially in harsh years.
• Conflicts with Humans: Human activities and lack of fear of humans (or even predators) can impede reintroductions.
• Ecological Disruptions: Newly reintroduced species can be a major ecological disturbance.
• Post-release Monitoring Problems: Necessary monitoring often doesn't occur due to practical/financial constraints.
• Captive-reared organisms can be unfit in the wild: Due to relaxed selection pressures in captivity.
  • Relaxed selection: Adaptations to captivity may result in changes that reduce an animal's fitness in the wild.
  • California Condor example:
    • Problem: Captive-released condors were unable to form normal social bonds due to imprinting on human handlers or rearing environments.
    • Solutions: Using puppets when feeding hatchlings, raising condors in enclosed outdoor areas away from buildings.

Conservation and Welfare Ethic vs. Animal Rights

• Conservation and welfare ethic: Focuses on maintaining and promoting species diversity and ecosystem health.
  • Highest quality care with direct wildlife and habitat benefits.
  • It is mistaken to believe that animals in their natural habitat fare better.
    • Much larger enclosures, Well-qualified staff who not only understand but also care with a Great effort is put into enrichment activities (Mental and Physical)
• Animal rights: Prioritizes the rights of individual animals, such as liberty and avoiding captivity.
• May view zoo-based breeding as unethical, even if it prevents extinction.

Puerto Rican Crested Toad SSP/Conservancy Study Summary

• Conservation Goal: Recover populations in Puerto Rico by captive breeding and reintroduction, addressing genetic diversity and threats.
• Strategy Used:
  • Captive breeding in AZA zoos with genetic management.
  • Reintroduction across sites with monitoring/habitat restoration.
  • Predator control/community outreach.
• Genetic Considerations:
  • Northern population: Highly inbred (MK = 0.6003), low genetic diversity (39.97%).
  • Southern population: Low inbreeding (MK = 0.0424), high diversity (95.46%).
• Monitoring and Success: Breeding confirmed at 3 sites, long-term tracking shows integration, IUCN status upgraded.
• Threats and Challenges: Hurricane impacts, predators, habitat degradation.

Blanding's Turtle Head-Starting Program Study Summary

• Conservation Goal: Rebuild a viable population (100-150 breeders) in Rouge National Urban Park.
• Strategy Used: Head-starting (raising hatchlings to reduce early mortality), scientific monitoring, community involvement.
• Monitoring and Success: Via telemetry, weight tracking, reproductive behavior; no difference found between soft & hard releases.
• Threats and Challenges: Habitat loss, road mortality, low rates.

Zoos & Aquariums: Guardians of Wild: Sustainability Action

• Green Initiatives: Reduce environmental impact, conserve resources, promote eco-friendly practices. Environmental Sustainability: Addressing present requirements without jeopardizing future generations needs.
• Energy Conservation: Using solar panels, wind power, and geothermal heating.
• Water Conservation: Rainwater collection and water recycling systems.
• Sustainable Architecture: Developing green roofs, energy-efficient buildings, and natural lighting.
• Waste Management: Recycling programs, composting, and managing single-use plastics.

Toronto Zoo Sustainability Initiatives - ICEnergy Systems

• Reduces energy costs by shifting cooling energy usage to off-peak hours.
• Ice Production (Charging Phase): Chillers cool water to create ice within insulated storage tanks during off-peak hours (typically at night).
• Cooling Delivery (Discharging Phase): Melts stored ice during peak demand, circulating cold water or air to cool buildings, reducing need for refrigeration.
• Benefits and Application: Provides energy cost savings, grid demand reduction, powers air conditioning in the Caribou Cafe.

Toronto Zoo Sustainability Initiatives - Geothermal

• Uses the earth's stable underground temperature to heat and cool buildings (like animal habitats).
• Provides consistent year-round temperature control with minimal environmental impact.
• Reduces carbon emissions by 230T annually.

Toronto Zoo Sustainability Initiatives - Infrastructure Upgrades

• VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives): Adjust motor speeds in pumps, fans, and compressors based on demand.
• On-Demand Water Heaters: Heat water only when needed, instead of keeping a full tank hot at all times.
• High-Efficiency Boilers: Uses less fuel to produce the same amount of heat compared to traditional boilers
• Filtration Media (Aquariums): Using Recycled Glass Media (RGM) replaces traditional sand in water filtration systems (used in aquatics, ponds, pools). Air-sourced heat pumps (High-Efficient Technology): Extracts heat from outside air (even in winter) to heat or cool buildings.

Water Conservation

• Rainwater Capture: Collects rainwater from rooftops/exhibit structures to water the greenhouse.
  • Cincinnati Zoo: Elephant Trek & Water Sustainability uses a 1 Million Gallon Rainwater Collection System
• Floating Wetlands: Artificial islands with plants cover 5% of the Pond Surface Area
  • Improves Water Quality by absorbing excess nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) and reduce algae growth, improve clarity, and enhance habitat conditions.
  • Greywater Integration: Can be used to filter and reuse greywater from zoo operations (e.g., sinks, drains).

Sustainable Architecture

• LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design): Certification for green buildings that rates buildings on sustainability, energy efficiency, water use, materials, and indoor environmental quality.
• Carbon Neutral Construction: Uses materials/systems to achieve net-zero carbon emissions during construction and operation.
• The Toronto Zoo - Community Conservation Campus acts as a hub for public education, conservation research, and community engagement.
• Greenhouse Retrofit: Improves energy efficiency through better insulation, efficient lighting, and optimized climate control systems.

Circular Economy

• Designing systems that minimize waste and maximize reuse.
  • Rainwater capture is reused for irrigation and cleaning.
  • Greywater systems are recycled for non-potable uses.
  • Recycled glass filtration reduces waste and water use.
  • Composting & habitat restoration returns organic waste to local ecosystems.
• Partnerships
  • Rain Barrel Art Project: Turns functional rain barrels into public art, promoting stormwater awareness/conservation.
  • Friendlies: Uses recycled containers in cafes and restaurants on-site.
  • Oscar Sort: Serves as an interactive garbage can.

Community Engagement & Public Education

• Green Visitor Programs: Encourage eco-friendly travel, promote sustainable behavior through interactive exhibits and tours.
• Public Awareness Campaigns: Topics include climate action, biodiversity, waste reduction, water conservation
• Plastics Pathway: An exhibit and action campaign focused on how plastic impacts wildlife Partnerships with Schools & Conservation Groups: Joint events, curriculum-linked programs, habitat restoration projects
  • Invasive Species Management: 5-year program with community & staff engagement supporting Native species regeneration
  • Biodiversity Restoration: Acres for Atmosphere, Mini Forests, Meadow Plantings, Pollinator Gardens

Educating the Public: Nature Deficit Disorder

• Spend less time in nature can cause alienation. Can lead to diminished use of senses, attention difficulties, higher rates of physical/emotional illnesses.
• Ecophobia: Powerlessness to prevent cataclysmic environmental change. Children exposed to knowledge that is too abstract, or content that they cannot change (e.g., climate change risks)
• Stewardship: Ethical duty to protect and sustain ecosystems for current and future generations.

Understanding Learning Theory (Epistemology)

• Behaviourism: Teacher-centred, learning is from external influences and memorization. Classical Conditioning: Learned behaviours that are automatic based on the presence of a stimulus
  • Ex. learned taste aversions or specific phobias
• Operant Conditioning: Learned behaviours that are voluntary and strengthened based on repetition and reinforcement.
  • Ex. giving verbal praise for a correct answer
• Constructivism: Student-centred, learning happens through guided experience and exploration.
• Authentic: Grounded in real contexts (e.g., citizen science, habitat monitoring)
• Relevant: Tied to students' world and local environments

Student with New Knowledge: Achievable

• Scaffolded so learners can work through the challenge and succeed
• When a student is faced with new knowledge, one of three things can occur:
  • Conflict Buried: They will ignore the conflict between this new knowledge and their prior knowledge.
  • Conflict Faced: They will construct a better model from their prior knowledge.
  • Conflict Deferred: Temporarily push aside their intuitive prior knowledge, and be open to learning a new way of thinking about their experience

Contextual Model of Learning: Interpretation

• Making meaningful connections between the visitor and the zoo's messages and encouraging visitors to engage emotionally, intellectually, and personally (conservation, animal care, sustainability)
• Key Principles of Interpretation
  • Provoke: "I'm curious": sparks interest and questioning -Relate: "I understand": connects to visitors' own lives
  • Reveal: "I care": uncovers deeper meaning and emotional connection

Motivations to Visit (Identity-Related Visit Motivations)

• Facilitator (30%): Desire to facilitate other people's needs
  • Others in my group would like it or benefit from the visit
• Recharger (10%): Seeking contemplative or restorative experience
  • To feel refreshed, focused, or appreciative.
• Explorer (4%): Personal curiosity
• It interested me and I thought I would like it
• Experience Seeker (4%): Desire to see and experience a place
• It was an attraction or thing to do in this community; its reputation
• Professional/Hobbyist (1%): Specific knowledge-related goals -It is related to my work or something I actively pursue as a hobby

Outcomes Indicators

• Awareness: People recognize what they can do to help wildlife and wild spaces.
• Attitude: People feel connected to nature.
• Knowledge: People describe the connections between people, animals, and the environment.
• Skills: People share the Zoo's conservation messages with family and friends
• Behaviour: People explore natural spaces.

Steps to Stewardship

• Curiosity: Initial interest is sparked.
  • I want to know more
• Awareness: Topic enters personal reflection and relevance.
• It's on my mind; let me think about it
• Understanding: Learner connects facts to feelings.
  • I get it; I think I care
• Caring About: Emotional investment begins; intent forms.
• I want to help
• Caring For: Commitment turns into action.
• I will help

Toronto Zoo Wildlife Nutrition Perspective - Transition of Nutrition

• General Feeding → Species-Specific Diets (1890s): Recognizes that diet affects animal health in captivity.
  • 1903: Kolkata (Calcutta) Zoo initiates early structured feeding trials, the first recorded zoo to study animal nutrition systematically.
• Basic Diets → Scientific Nutrition (1920s): Incorporates nutritional biochemistry, veterinary diagnostics, and individualized feeding protocols.
  • Dr. Ellen P. Corsen White advances animal nutrition understanding, especially in relation to vitamin deficiencies.
• Survival-Focused → Welfare and Enrichment (1930s–1940s): Emphasizes welfare, disease prevention, and behavioral enrichment through diet.
  • The Toronto Zoo was the first to hire a full-time wildlife nutritionist.

Current Zoo Wildlife Nutrition

• Ecology: Nutrient fluxes and foraging strategies.
  • Natural Diet Composition: Provides a baseline to approximate macronutrient and micronutrient intake in captivity.
• Evolutionary Ecology: Fossil records and genetically related species -Helps determine morphological adaptations (e.g., dentition, gut length) for feeding strategies.
• Comparative Physiology: Species with similar strategies.
• Nutrition planning must support species-typical behaviors: Browsing, digging, hunting, tool use, etc.
• Scientific Literature: Species-specific studies ex-situ, in vitro, etc -Analysis of how animals allocate time to different activities (feeding, resting, foraging, socializing).
• Observations from the Wild: Intake, nutrient content of wild feeds, circulating metabolites.
• Measures blood and tissue metabolites (e.g., glucose, ketones, fatty acids, vitamin levels) to monitor health to evaluate nutrient absorption, metabolism, and overall welfare.

Traditional vs IUCN One Plan

• Traditional approach: in situ(wild), ex situ(captive) are managed separately by different stakeholders.
  • Wildlife managers, NGOs expect populations in the wild to be viable.
  • Zoos and botanic gardens expect populations in the ex situ to be viable.
• One plan Approach: Stakeholders plan collaborative for conservation actions by creating viable populations in healthy ecosystems.

Zoo's Wildlife Nutrition Centre - Goals

• Designs species-specific diets based on nutritional science and medical needs.
• Works closely with veterinarians to adjust diets for animals under medical treatment (e.g., kidney support diets, obesity management).
• Ensures animals receive the correct vitamin and mineral balance, tailored to life stage, health status, and seasonal changes.
• Prevents nutritional deficiencies and metabolic disorders; supports health, growth, and longevity; enhances animal welfare by simulating natural feeding behaviors.
• Enrichment Feeding: The use of food in creative, behaviorally stimulating ways to improve welfare.
  • Non-grass plant materials (e.g., twigs, leaves, flowers, bark) are offered as supplementary feed.

Vancouver Island Marmot Case Study

• Challenges in Conservation Breeding:Captive Marmots enter shorter, less effective hibernation.
• Captive Hibernation Failure: Captive marmots enter shorter, less effective hibernation. Overwinter survival is lower in captive-reared individuals post-release.
• Health Concerns: Captive marmots develop cardiovascular disease. Lack of data on wild marmot physiology.
• Zoo-Based Research to Improve the Program: Fatty Acid Profile Studies
• Model Species Trials (Marmota monax): Trials test how different n6:n3 fatty acid ratios affect hibernation.
  • The Marmot Research Pellet (MRP) group was fed a diet with a lower n6:n3 ratio and compared to the Toronto Zoo (TZ) control group and diet is showed to have better hibernation outcomes.

Veterinary Terms

• Wildlife Health: Focus on population and ecosystem health by using diagnostics, disease prevention, and conservation medicine.
• Zoological Medicine: Veterinary science in zoos, conservation efforts, and field care.
• One Health / One Plan Approach: Emphasizes integration of wildlife, human, and ecosystem health.
• Climate-linked Disease Emergence: Warming leads to expanded ranges of vectors; leads to livestock and human.
• Cultural Sensitivity in LMICs: The conservation capacity-building in low to middle income countries must respect the local context of knowledge.

Veterinarians in Conservation

• Not just about saving individuals, but ecosystem's and species-level health.
• Examples: Disease management in reintroductions, pre/post-release assessments.
• Work includes both clinical practice and conservation medicine.
• Is not just about treating wild individuals or removing all disease.

Toronto Zoo's Role Provides

• Preventative care, diagnostics, and treatments for captive wildlife species.
• Support for reintroductions (e.g., Blanding's turtle).
• Data collection and knowledge transfer to field conservation.
• Training hub for wildlife health professionals.

Botanical Gardens Transitions

• Science: Botanical garden is the oldest botanical garden in operation
• Herbalism: continuous operation
• Research & Education: Contributes to plant taxonomy, horticulture, and university education.
• Local Collections: Showcases the montane and alpine plants
• Passive Viewing: Highlights through public engagement & policy influence

Plants Are Not Animals

• Biological and reproductive distinctions that affect conservation.
• Plants reproduction requires a compact, natural germplasm storage unit and a vegetative propagation.
• Societal, cultural, and conservation challenges are unique to Plants.
• Public perception plants are less charismatic; receive less conservation focus

Plant’s vs Animals Conservation

• Inbreeding sensitivity: Plant is less sensitive while animals are highly sensitive to inbreeding depression.
• Genetic management: Plant do not need a studbook and genetic tracking because of limited focus on genetic tracking
• Public engagement: People easily draw interest to an animal.
• Ecological roles: Plant is the primary producer while animals are the keystone.
• Conservation framing: Plant is often utilitarian animal frames around individuals.

In-Situ vs. Ex-Situ Plant Conservation

• In-Situ Actions: Protecting the habitat, ecosystem restoration, pollination studies Planting removes wetland function while improving water quality.
• Ex.Situ Actions: Cultivation, seed banks, tissue culture. The action of reproducing plants from seeds.

Educating The Public

• Investing in Nature: A partnership goal of implementing the global strategy.
• Capture interest with marketing, visuals.
• The conservation continuum: offers a beautiful immersive experience with labels, interactive signs that explain threats against biodiversity.

Red Mulberry (Morus Rubra)

• COSEWIC: Endangered and greatly reduced as result of various conservation programs that were underway.

Persuasion vs. Manipulation

• Manipulation: Aims to control while hiding motives undermines autonomy.
• Persuasion: Aims to inform and guide in a clear motive.

Problems with Changing Thoughts

• Cognitive Dissonance: Conflicting ideas in an outdoor message.
• People Reject or Accept message, leads to reinforce perceptions.
• Psychological Reactance: a emotionally strong experience when their freedom of their choice is removed
• Emotional Numbing: Too much concern with negative reporting.

Behavioral Change Stairway Model

• The person understands the others’ perspective while showing empathy with a mutual trust that influences them to change.

Theory of Planned behavior

• Perceived behavior can change their intention in creative ways and increase engagement

$ Value on biodiversity

• Drives political and institutional investment in conservation. Agricultural industry is worth billions of dollars.
• The Doomsday Vault: the top security and preservation bank that preserves the world’s vital crops in case of global catastrophe.

IUCN

• Managing ex situ & in situ populations
• veterinary health and pathology
• conservation translocations

Toronto Zoo Strategic Plan 2034

• To become a leader and recognized with innovations in the community by generating a meaningful connection with the audience.
• Goal is become a net-zero organization
• Positively impact 5 Canadian species.