Conservationists call for greater transparency, systemic review of Calgary Zoo

The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has prompted some conservation experts to push for change.

The zoo said on Tuesday that Eyare, a female western lowland gorilla, had been injured while moving between back-of-house spaces. 

Despite the efforts to save her, Eyare ultimately died as a result of her injuries.

The zoo declined to share any further details about the gorilla's fatal injuries or what caused them, saying an investigation is underway and a necropsy will be completed.  

The lack of details shared by the zoo isn’t sitting well with Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

"This lack of transparency is really disturbing," he said. "I mean there’s no information made available to the public that was useful, so it’s frustrating."

Bekoff says the Calgary Zoo should potentially undergo a systemic review to make sure that those in charge of the animals at the facility are doing their jobs properly.

He says he believes most zoo workers have good intentions, and that they’re doing everything they can to keep animals safe, but that some incidents can be prevented with more proactive measures in place.

"I've been on review boards for other zoos when there's been an unusual number of deaths, and sometimes it comes down to some bad food, when there was rat poisoning around and the animals got to it," Bekoff added.

"Maybe there was a pre-existing condition they didn’t know about, other times it was inadequate veterinary care, and it's not necessarily because the people at the zoo don't care, but trying to keep a gorilla in captivity – which is about as unnatural a place for a gorilla to be – it would be tragic no matter who the animals were.”

In 2010, the Calgary Zoo underwent a review from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) following several animal death incidents that took place between 2005 to 2010.

"That review found that, over a five-year period, there was a tripling of deaths and unusual deaths in animals," said Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoo Check.

"They found a whole range of systemic problems, things that were beyond the control of the animals themselves, so training of staff was identified as an issue… communications, exhibit design, such as in the case of bat colonies – they had that were behind piano wire, which wasn't suitable, resulting in a lot of deaths."

Laidlaw notes that the review in particular identified several issues, but sadly several animal deaths continued into the next decade, including:

Additional incidents and animal deaths also including the following:

• In October 2011, a zookeeper resigned following the death of a corn snake, as the keeper had left it unattended near a heat source;
• In September 2014, a problem with an ozone sensor in the hippopotamus pool is blamed for the deaths of 85 tilapia;
• In February 2016, an otter drowned after becoming tangled in pants given to it by a zookeeper.; and
• In December 2016, seven Humboldt penguins died, drowning in a holding pool.

The zoo said in each of these instances, human error was to blame.

In the following two cases, human error played no role, according to the zoo.

• In May 2023, a Masai Giraffe has died of a broken neck after getting caught in a cable around their enclosure; and,
• In July 2024, one of the zoo’s popular polar bears, Baffin, died by drowning after what zoo officials described as "rough play" with another bear.

"I’m not suggesting that people at the Calgary Zoo don’t have the best interests of animals in their hearts and minds, but the fact is that these things are happening and they’re not good animals," said Laidlaw.

"Certainly, if you're trying to say you're breeding animals or keeping animals for conservation and they're dying from all these mishaps and other things, you've got a problem, and that's counter to what you're telling the public that you want to do, so they've got to nip this in the bud and try to resolve whatever issues they can identify."

CTV News Calgary reached out to the Calgary Zoo for comment. Here is their response:

"As an AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums)-accredited organization, providing exceptional care to the animals we love is our top priority. We are devastated by the unexpected passing of our two-year old female western low land gorilla Eyare. A formal investigation is underway, and we are consulting both internal and external experts to determine what happened and any policy, procedure or infrastructure changes required to prevent a recurrence.  We will share the findings with our community as soon as possible."

The zoo had its AZA accreditation renewed in September. It has maintained the accreditation since 1978.