The Love of the Job ~ Herman ~ The Frozen Zoo ~ Cryogenics Lab with Ontario Visited at Toronto Zoo

This series of Blog articles comes from our recent “Behind the Scenes Tour of the Toronto Zoo” with Katie Gray, Public Relations Supervisor. Ontario Visited toured with Festival Nomad Correspondent’s Carol Law (Volunteeerscan.ca ~ Volunteer systems Consultant) and Ron Clifford (www.ronclifford.com ~ Professional Photographer). With extra our extra correspondent and photographer, we were able to focus on the generous amount of information being provided by the Toronto Zoo staff for this wonderful opportunity. We would like to share our insight, knowledge and experiences with you. Hope you enjoy the series!

The Love of the Job ~ “HERMAN” ~ Our Tour Continues

The Toronto Zoo is working diligently on their Capital Campaign to raise monies for the new medical facility expansion. It is hoped that offering special programs to supporters, sponsorships will increase. As an example, the new facility will offer a large glass viewing area that will be available for special access to patrons.
As we toured further into the depths of the health centre, we learned “Who’s the Big Boy”? This turned out to be our guide's “Favorite resident, Herman”. Herman was 3 years old in May 2013. Herman, an endangered Vancouver Island marmot, is part of Toronto Zoo breeding program that has helped re-establish the species in the wild. From the outreach team who travelled to Vancouver, where these species have been decimated to only 25. Now the Calgary West Mountview facility has 350. As these species are in the wild again, it now becomes less likely for there to be in-breeding. In order to be able to release the marmot's from their breeding centre, the Zoo's keeps them isolated so that they can become acclimatize to their natural surroundings. They want them to be wild so they can defend themselves when they are released. They are herbivore, eating greens, yam, no fruit and pellets. Their teeth grow continually.  The baby’s are shipped out west to the boot camp and then released. Prior to release they are tagged with a micro chip so that they can be monitored. We asked our Zookeeper guide the reason for their decline. She simply said ~ “human”…. the increase of predication and predators. They are subject to attack from raccoons, coyotes, mink and weasels also.

As we walked through the facility, we came to the "Frozen Zoo"! The Frozen Zoo, the Cryogenics Lab, is a large room that houses what appear to be steel metal cylinders. This is where the Zoo keeps genetically valuable offspring semen (for example tiger, canine semen). New gens are better then old gens and very valuable. You might think of it like a “Clone” (even with reference to Jurassic Park like), however the science and delicate preciseness, is critical to the future of many of these creatures now becoming extinct species.

Stay tuned for more exciting insight from the Toronto Zoo Behind the Scenes Tour ~ Adopt an Animal ~ Your Opportunity… A Tough Job ~ None Other … Positive Wins Every Time! In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the Toronto Zoo website where you can view ongoing amazing “in-the-moment” videos and so much more at www.torontozoo.com. Enjoy!