Local animal rights activists and zoo staff are upset after a female hippopotamus died at the Calgary Zoo October 27 after a 28-hour drive from the Denver Zoo. “It should never have happened,” says Michael Alvarez-Toye, spokesperson for the Calgary Animal Rights Coalition. “It should never have been brought here.”
The hippo, named Hazina, arrived at the zoo October 26 as part of an inter-zoo breeding program. Zoo staff believe Hazina was laying in one position in her crate for too long, which starved her muscles of oxygen and eventually killed her.
Alvarez-Toye says the zoo should stop bringing in exotic animals like hippos, and focus on indigenous animals. The zoo has plans to bring polar bears for an Arctic exhibit, and won’t rule out the possibility of bringing in beluga whales in the future. (Recent plans to bring belugas have been nixed because of building costs.) “Belugas in a bald-ass prairie landlocked city — it’s absolutely insane to consider something like that,” says Alvarez-Toye.
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