Little creatures are a big draw, but zoos shy to cash in on cute
Posted on Jul 14, 2008 under Knut News |Hollywood may have Knox, Sunday, Maddie and Harlow, but Canada has Jasmine, Jafarh, Yewande and Malti.
Canadian zoos are experiencing their own celebrity baby boom, with an array of rare and adorable creatures born in captivity over the past few months. Last week, the Saskatoon zoo unveiled two white Bengal tigers born in May, adding to a roster of new Canadian animals including twin red pandas born at Edmonton’s Valley Zoo, a baby beluga in B.C., a gorilla in Calgary, and a bald eagle born to elderly parents in Winnipeg in June.
Similarly exotic births in other countries have led to publicity pushes and spikes in attendance, notably with Knut the polar bear in Berlin.
But not all Canadian institutions seem able or willing to capitalize on their newest attractions.
“Births really have an impact in the interest people have in visiting a zoo, and I’m sure it will cause an up-tick in their attendance,” said Bill Peters, national director of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums. “I think some of our members are being pretty innovative in the type of marketing they’re doing, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in that area.”
The tiger cubs named Jasmine and Jafarh unveiled at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo were born May 31.
But zookeeper John Moran said he had had not planned on putting the cubs on display until later in the summer, shortly before their return to the Elmvale Jungle Zoo in Ontario, from which their parents are on loan.
The decision to unveil the twins came only after visitors who knew the adult female tiger had been pregnant began inquiring about the birth. Now, Mr. Moran said visitors are scrambling to see the animals, and he will be sorry to see them go.
This low-profile technique is species away from the approach taken by the Vancouver Aquarium after the birth of a baby beluga.
Within two hours of the new arrival in June, aquarium staff posted video of the birth on YouTube. In the following month, attendance went up 13 per cent, according to president John Nightingale.
“It’s part of our whole mission of amazing and engaging people,” he said.
“Nothing is more amazing than a baby’s birth.”
The Calgary Zoo launched its own baby-themed campaign this spring, featuring a series of advertisements illustrated with the likeness of their one-year-old baby elephant, Malti.
“Our marketing department was looking for ways to let visitors know what they can see at the zoo, and to see a baby Asian elephant is not that common,” said Laurie Herron, the zoo’s manager of communications.
Malti draws large crowds on a daily basis, said Ms. Herron, but the zoo has ensured that the attention does not interfere with her life.
“I think she’s blissfully unaware that she’s so popular,” she said. “She might be used in a marketing campaign, but it doesn’t really impact her in particular, or her quality of life.”
The zoo also welcomed a baby gorilla named Yewande on May 15, and a contest to pick her name drew 1,400 submissions.
But the zoo often turns down requests from production companies wanting to use young animals in ads, and Ms. Herron says it is necessary to walk a fine line between promoting and protecting their animals.
The most famous example of this issue is Knut, a polar bear born at the Berlin Zoo in 2006. The adorable white bear became a media darling after it was rejected by its mother and an animal rights activist suggested it should be allowed to die rather than raised as a pet. Soon, the zoo’s finance director, Gerald Uhlich, turned Knut into a global brand.
Many zoos are concerned about being viewed as eager to cash in on the cult of cute.
At Edmonton’s Valley Zoo, twin red pandas born in June are not yet on public display.
Jan Archbold, a spokesperson for the City of Edmonton said the animals are too small to be shown publicly.
“There’s an interest level and certainly people are excited about the fact that the zoo here in Edmonton has been so successful in breeding red pandas because they’re critically endangered,” Ms. Archbold said. “I guess if they were on display it might encourage people to come to the zoo, but they’re not.”
Mr. Nightingale said the birth of these animals is a tribute to the breeding programs emphasized at Canadian zoos and aquariums, many of which have committed to sustaining their own populations rather than taking any more animals from the wild.
The baby beluga born in Vancouver in June was the aquarium’s third beluga birth, an impressive feat considering that only about 30 of the creatures have been bred in captivity around the world.
After each birth, Mr. Nightingale says the baby beluga stuffed animals available in the aquarium gift shop fly off the shelves, and he said most attendees list the belugas as their reason for visiting.
If promoting a birth helps draw people in, he does not worry about being seen as exploiting the mammals.
“If it’s crassly commercial, then yeah, I think you’re probably exploiting,” he said. “But we humans are exploiting nature out there to such a degree now that we have an obligation to try and engage more people in trying to do something about it.”
SIRI AGRELL