The story
Predecessor
Around 1880, businessman Harry L. Piper (1839–1921) established a Zoological and Acclimatization Society (also as Toronto Zoological Garden) and opened a zoological garden at Old Post Office Lane at Toronto Street north of King Street East, then in 1881 to a lot at Front Street and York Street next to the Queen's Hotel and finally to the eastern end of the Exhibition Grounds in 1885. Piper was also Alderman for St. John's Ward from 1877 to 1880 and 1883 to 1888.
In 1888, the Riverdale Zoo opened in Toronto, as a typical example of a zoo during this time, with animals displayed as curiosities in dark cages and cramped enclosures. Animals for Piper's zoo moved to this site.
In 1963, a private citizen's brief to build a new zoo was introduced by Hugh Crothers to the Chairman of the Council of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, William Allen. Allen asked Crothers to head up a committee to investigate the feasibility of a new zoo. By 1966, a group of eleven people became The Metro Toronto Zoological Society with Crothers as the first chairman.
Original plans were to have the park be located in the Leaside area, but the site was later used to create the E.T. Seton Park and the original Ontario Science Centre. In 1966, Mr. Crothers and the ten other citizens met at City Hall to form the Metropolitan Toronto Zoological Society. In 1967, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (Metro Toronto) approved the Rouge Park site in Scarborough for a new zoo. The following year, a feasibility study on the new zoo was produced by architect Raymond Moriyama. In 1969, a master plan was created by Johnson Sustronk Weinstein and Associates that was approved by the Zoological Society. Construction of the new zoo began in 1970. On August 15, 1974, the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo was open to the public. The zoo increased from the original Riverdale Zoo's 3 hectares (7.4 acres) to 287 hectares (710 acres), and is now one of the largest zoos in the world. The Zoo introduced some designs to enhance the public's viewing experience and the animals' living comfort. Animals were displayed in naturalized environments and grouped according to their zoogeographic region. The old zoo was converted into an urban farm called Riverdale Farm, which opened in 1978.
Since opening
In 1976, the Zoo opened the Canadian Domain Ride, a monorail-like automated guideway transit service that travelled into the Zoo's Canadian Domain area, located in the Rouge Valley. The ride's operations were placed on hold in July 1994 after an accident where a packed train lost power while ascending a hill. It fell backwards, reaching a speed of 40 km/h before impacting another train and injuring at least 27 people. The monorail has since been mothballed with many sections becoming overgrown with vegetation. A 2009 study determined it would cost upwards of $800,000 to return the infrastructure to use and upgrade it to current standards. A fundraising drive was started in 2010 and has since raised $1.15 million. In the interim, the current Zoomobile uses five (4-car set) Chance Coach Sunliner rubber-tired trams.
Between 1980 and 1984, several new exhibits were added to the zoo, including snow leopards, gaur, a children's zoo known as Littlefootland, and new indoor habitats for the zoo's African elephants and Indian rhinoceroses, as well as the official opening of the Zoomobile.
In 1985, Qing Qing and Quan Quan – a pair of giant pandas, on loan for three months from China – were displayed at the zoo. The zoo broke all previous attendance records as thousands of visitors came to see these rare animals. Over the years, the zoo has housed other rare or unusual animals, including golden snub-nosed monkeys (1986), koalas (1988, 1996 and 2002), Tasmanian devils (from the late 1970s until 1998), and white lions (1995 and 2012 onwards).
In 1987, the zoo rebranded the South American Waterfall area as the Maya Temple Ruin exhibits, featuring some architectural decor. The zoo's capybaras, jaguars and spider monkeys remained while the llamas and similar animals were relocated. In 1988, the zoo completed new reptile exhibits in the Australasia Pavilion, the spotted-necked otter exhibit in the Africa Pavilion, and the Primate Wing in the Americas Pavilion.
Read the full text
The Malayan Woods Pavilion opened in 1993 and the Sumatran tigers arrived the following year. Naked mole-rats went on exhibit in 1996, and Komodo dragons become a feature exhibit in 1997.
In 1997, zoo workers went on strike for nine weeks, however, the zoo remained open. After the strike, they signed a minimum complement contract.
In 1998, with the amalgamation of the individual municipalities that made up Metro Toronto, the Zoo was officially renamed the Toronto Zoo. That same year, the Zoo opened the Africa Savanna, the largest expansion in its history.
2000s
In 2001, the zoo remodeled half of the Africa Pavilion into the Gorilla Rainforest, featuring the world's largest indoor habitat for western lowland gorillas, as well as a giant fish tank for Lake Malawi cichlids. The zoo's Splash Island, an educationally themed water play area, opened in 2002. This was followed by an open-air amphitheatre in 2003 and the Kids Zoo in 2004.
While the SARS outbreak in 2003 had a devastating effect on the tourism industry in Toronto, the Zoo fared well with local residents supporting the zoo by visiting often. The Zoo's attendance has recovered well with many record-breaking annual attendance numbers since then, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November 2006, the Toronto Zoo temporarily closed the Australasia Pavilion for redevelopment. The pavilion underwent two years of construction, resulting in new exhibits including a Great Barrier Reef area in the location of the former Edge of Night area. The Great Barrier Reef exhibit consists of a large 7-metre (23 ft) long community tank featuring brownbanded bamboo sharks, damselfish, and triggerfish. Lionfish were also added, as well as enlarged seahorse tanks, sea anemones and moon jellyfish. The exhibit opened on May 16, 2008, alongside the reopening of the Australasia Pavilion.
In May 2007, Dinosaurs Alive! opened, which featured 18 animated dinosaur models and life-size skeleton replicas. It featured the largest T-Rex model in North America. This exhibit was enjoyed by over 600,000 visitors and was included with zoo admission. The exhibit closed in October 2007.
On August 21, 2007, the polar bear, llama, Dall sheep and mara exhibits were closed for the construction of the new 10-acre (4.0 ha) Tundra Trek area. Tundra Trek featured new exhibits for the polar bears, reindeer, and Arctic wolves, as well as new additions to the zoo, such as Arctic foxes, snow geese and snowy owls. Returning to the zoo to take up residence in the new polar bear exhibit were three orphaned polar bears initially raised at the zoo and named by the community: Aurora, Nikita, and Inukshuk. The Tundra Trek opened on August 1, 2009.
On May 16, 2008, Stingray Bay opened for the first time. This interactive exhibit allowed the public to touch, feel, and feed live stingrays with their stingers removed. The exhibit returned to the zoo on a regular basis but closed permanently on October 8, 2012, to make room for the Giant Panda Research Center. In September 2008, the Toronto Zoo Board approved a motion to dissolve the Toronto Zoo Foundation and bring fundraising and development in-house. All parties agreed to the transfer of existing donor funds to the Toronto Community Foundation.
On August 15, 2009, the Toronto Zoo celebrated its 35th anniversary. During that weekend, the public got to learn about some of the zoo's oldest residents, including Marg the demoiselle crane and Monty the West African dwarf crocodile.
On September 9, 2009, the south side of the African Rainforest Pavilion was closed for construction. The pavilion reopened in early 2011, with new exhibits for pygmy hippos, red river hogs, an African softshell turtle, and ring-tailed lemurs replacing the mandrills, as well as a variety of exhibits for fish and reptiles.
2010s
The Frank Schofield Memorial / Asian Gardens opened the first phase in June 2010 and includes a statue erected in Schofield's honour.
On May 21, 2011, the black-footed penguin exhibit opened to the public. This exhibit once housed South African fur seals, and was closed and modified in 2010 to house the penguins.
In 2011, the city started looking at the process of selling the zoo to a third party after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford claimed there were many interested buyers. This process was short-lived with the city later deciding the zoo will remain an entity of the city.
In April 2012, the zoo lost its accreditation in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums due to a disagreement regarding sending its three elephants to PAWS, an animal sanctuary in California that is not AZA-accredited. The zoo began looking for a new accredited home for its elephants in October 2011, but the Toronto city council voted to send the elephants to California instead, ignoring the recommendations of the zoo's professional staff. The zoo re-applied for AZA accreditation in March 2013, and they later returned to the AZA program. The three elephants were transported to the PAWS sanctuary in California on October 16, 2013.
In 2012, on a trade mission to China, it was announced that the Toronto Zoo and the Calgary Zoo would be lent two giant pandas from China for the span of ten years, with the pandas splitting the time equally between the two facilities. The pandas, named Er Shun and Da Mao, arrived at the Toronto Zoo on Monday, March 25, 2013, greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Their exhibit opened on May 18, 2013. The pandas originated from the Chongqing Zoo and Chengdu Panda Base. In October 2015, Er Shun gave birth to twin cubs named Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue. The exhibit closed on March 18, 2018, when the pandas were moved to the Calgary Zoo.
In December 2014, the renovated Eurasia area, renamed the Eurasia Wilds, opened, featuring a new aviary with Eurasian eagle-owls and Steller's sea eagles and a new exhibit for the snow leopards.
On May 11, 2017, over 400 employees went on strike, and zoo management decided to close the zoo, due to job security negotiations falling out, though conservation programs continued. During the strike, three snow leopard cubs, two clouded leopard cubs, five cheetah cubs, and three Vancouver Island marmot pups were born. The strike ended on June 15, 2017, after the Union and Zoo Board of Management signed and ratified a four-year agreement.
In December 2019, the zoo opened an after-hours night walk experience called Terra Lumina, in partnership with Montréal-based company Moment Factory. The experience is designed as a hypothetical look into the year 2099, showing positive change having occurred in the world as humanity made changes in the decades between now and then to respect and live in harmony with wildlife, with strong indigenous influences. The experience closed early on March 14, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed on August 14, 2020. Terra Lumina ended its run on April 9, 2023.
2020s
The Toronto Zoo closed to all visitors starting March 14, 2020, due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. Essential zoo staff remained on-site during the closure to continue caring for the animals. During this closure, a Masai giraffe calf was born. The zoo reopened as a drive-through experience beginning May 23, 2020, and began re-admitting walkthrough guests beginning July 4, 2020, with the drive-through experience continuing to run until October 5, 2020. The zoo closed to visitors once again starting November 23, 2020, due to the second lockdown of the Greater Toronto Area, and reopened June 12, 2021.
The zoo implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy starting October 25, 2021, which requires all staff and visitors aged 12 years and older to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to show their proof-of-vaccination documents to enter the entire Zoo grounds. The zoo closed for a third time on January 5, 2022, due to growing concerns around the COVID-19 Omicron variant, and reopened on February 10, 2022.
In June 2023, the zoo opened an outdoor habitat for the Sumatran orangutans, marking the first time at the zoo that the species would be viewable outside of the Indo-Malaya Pavilion.
In late 2023, extensive renovations on the main entrance began, with plans set for it to become a "Conservation Campus" featuring a new exhibit for the zoo's North American river otters as well as updated guest services buildings and research facilities.
On August 15, 2024, the zoo celebrated its 50th anniversary. The zoo took this opportunity to honour several longtime residents, including Puppe the Sumatran orangutan and Charles the Western lowland gorilla, the only two remaining animals from the zoo's first year of operation in 1974. A new bronze statue of Charles was unveiled outside of the African Rainforest pavilion as part of the festivities. Charles died from heart failure two months after the festivities at the age of 52.
In 2025, the zoo received a retired Line 3 Scarborough S-series train car. The car was added to the Tundra Trek Zoomobile stop as both a display piece and a tribute to the line's history with the zoo.
From Wikipedia’s article on Toronto Zoo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4