TORONTO - A report to be considered next week by the Toronto Zoo Board of Management recommends the zoo phase out its 37-year-old elephant program.
The report says zoo staff agree with a consultant's recommendation that the three existing elephants be transferred to an accredited Association of Zoos and Aquariums facility.
The report says continuing to keep Toka, Thika and Iringa would require renovations to meet future standards at an estimated cost of $16.5 million.
The Toronto Zoo currently spends $600,000 a year to care for the existing elephants and that would rise to $930,000 if the herd size is raised to six animals.
The report says the cost of transferring the three elephants to another facility would be between $30,000 and $50,000.
However, the report says if the board decides to phase out the elephant program it could be two years before the animals are moved.
"The status quo is not an acceptable option, as the existing herd of three females is aging and in a short period of time the Toronto Zoo could be below the minimum standard of three elephants," the report states.
"There are some elephants available through private sources, however these animals come at a significant cost, as high as $500,000 each," it states, noting that elephant mortality increases significantly after 40 years of age.
Iringa is 42 years old, Toka, 41, and Thika -- born at Toronto Zoo in 1980 -- is 30.
Last month, game show host Bob Barker called on the zoo to send the elephants to sanctuaries in California or Tennessee.
The report rejects those sanctuaries as destinations for the zoo's elephants because they are not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Finding appropriate sanctuaries, obtaining the necessary permits and training the animals for shipment could take up to two years, the report said.
