Zoos in Canada: Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Canadian zoos’ current and potentially future operations, form, and function as a modern western zoo. Evolving from ancient institutions that have responded over millennia to their human community interests, desires, social/cultural needs, and constraints of animal keeping and display, zoos continue to evolve. Impacts of this major pandemic on public recreation, animal behaviour, animal health and care, conservation, and other programs in the geographic context of diverse Canadian zoos are explored. Provisional observations and analysis are presented, even as the pandemic still rages in many geographic regions of the world. A cold climate northern country, Canada’s unique zoo institutional challenges are investigated, for future zoo prospects in an emerging world with zoonotic and other human disease risks, biodiversity losses, and changing climate. New perspectives with historical geography considerations are also presented including a summary of the major impacts of COVID-19 and Canada’s response, resilience and institutional responses, animal behaviour change and care and repercussions on other Canadian zoos.