Wildfire smoke prompts Calgary Zoo to move some animals indoors
The pool outside the Calgary Zoo's Chilean Flamingo enclosure was glassy and still Wednesday as the flamingos and other animals were herded into their indoor enclosures to avoid the wildfire smoke that had settled over the city.
Smoke — blown in from hundreds of wildfires burning in British Columbia — prompted a special air quality advisory for the region from Environment Canada and made it dangerous for some of the zoo's animals to be outdoors.
"The biggest concern really would be our bird population here and our reptile population. Those are the species that we might see signs of any kind of smoke stress," said Trish Exton-Parder, media relations lead at the zoo.
Exton-Parder said the way birds' systems filter smoke puts them at a higher risk than other animals for having respiratory issues, prompting the zoo to move flamingos, ostriches and some of the penguins — among other sensitive animals like tortoises — indoors.
"All of the animals have extra monitoring by the veterinary staff and the keepers for sure," she said.
Keepers would be on the lookout for odd behaviour, Exton-Parder said, as it could have a different impact on different animals, such as making some nervous.
She said as of early Wednesday afternoon, keepers had yet to have any worries with any species. The smoke wasn't enough to darken the skies and set off their sleep schedules — instead, it just seemed like a cloudy day to most.
However, the zoo did take extra care of its human occupants, moving kids camps indoors and cutting interpretive programs short to ease the burden on staff.
Jill Mason was visiting from Cranbrook, B.C., and was hoping to escape the wildfire smoke from her home province on her first visit to the city.
"Yesterday we did Calaway Park and it was really hot and beautiful, today, we're just making the best of it," she said.
The smoke was predicted to continue into Thursday, with varying levels of poor air quality throughout the remainder of the week.
"This may last for a few days, so we may be in this extra-monitoring phase for a little while," Exton-Parder said.
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With files from Justin Pennell
