Bowmanville lions adjust to East-Coast lifestyle
Aslan and Frieda settle into New Brunswick after closure of zoo uprooted 300 animals
Frieda and Aslan haven’t felt homesick since departing the Bowmanville Zoo.
The two lions, each two-and-a-half years old, arrived in Saint John, N.B., in late October after the closure of the zoo in Clarington.
After nearly four months living at the Cherry Brook Zoo, the sister and brother have adjusted well to their new surroundings.
“They really actually settled in pretty much immediately. They’re really, really well-behaved cats,” said Martha McDevitt, Cherry Brook’s executive director.
“As soon as they came, they just started running around. We had a few toys out there already for them, so they immediately started playing with them.”
The Bowmanville Zoo’s closure left about 300 animals in need of new homes, Clarington This Week reported. While some, like Frieda and Aslan, were transferred to other zoos, the fate of others remained unclear.
“A lot of folks have asked us ‘where the animals are going,’ ” the zoo posted on Facebook on Oct. 29. “The short answer is a lot of places. We are not loading all the animals into a trailer and taking them to one facility. They will go to many different facilities.”
The zoo closed after nearly a century in operation due a dramatic drop in attendance in 2016, which it attributed to animal cruelty allegations.
Director Michael Hackenberger stepped down last year after being charged with animal cruelty following the release of a video by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that appeared to show him mistreating a Siberian tiger.
McDevitt said there were no signs of stress when the lions arrived on the East Coast, as Hackenberger himself delivered them.
“You’d know if an animal was nervous around their handler and they absolutely loved him,” she said. “They respected him as he brought them in. I know the criticism he received and I didn’t see any of that.”
She said one of the biggest changes Frieda and Aslan had to adapt to, aside from their new surroundings, was the lack of direct human contact since Cherry Brook keepers aren’t hands-on with lions.
Animals at the Bowmanville Zoo were often photographed in close quarters with humans.
The City of Toronto warned against it in July after singer Justin Bieber posted images of himself on social media posing with lions the zoo had lent out.
“There would definitely be an adjustment because they would be used to having people in,” said McDevitt. “I think initially it would just be . . . a little confusing at first, like ‘why aren’t you coming in?’ However, animals adapt to routine.”
The lions aren’t the only GTA animals that moved east. In early October, male camels Goliath and Jona- than, ages 10 and 12, arrived at Oaklawn Farm Zoo in Aylesford, N.S., about 130 kilometres northwest of Halifax.
“They’ve settled right in really well, right from Day 1,” said zoo co-owner Ron Rogerson. “They were just like if you moved horses or ponies to a new home.”
The pair spend their time hanging out with zebras and eating hay. They eat a combined bale and a half, as well as eight pounds of grain each, on any given day and enjoy interacting with people from behind a fence.
“(The public) can come right up to the fence and talk to them,” Rogerson said. “They’re friendly. They’ll usually come over to the fence to say hello.”
It’s unclear where many of the oth- er Bowmanville animals wound up, said Ashley Street, a spokesperson for Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA).
After the Bowmanville Zoo, which was one of the organization’s accredited members, announced it would close, Street said they reached out to offer help in finding new homes for the animals.
“Although this offer was extended a number of times, Bowmanville Zoo has chosen not to include CAZA in the rehoming of the animals in their care,” Street said in an email.
McDevitt said Cherry Brook Zoo is looking to expand their enclosure to give Frieda and Aslan more space to roam around.
In the distant future, McDevitt says she hopes Aslan will breed with another female. Frieda was spayed to prevent them from breeding together.
“They’re social cats,” McDevitt said. “They need to be with a cat and so in some cases like the Bowmanville Zoo, human interaction will also satisfy that, but in our case we don’t. That’s why we had to make sure there was at least two cats. You don’t want to see a lion alone.”
“As soon as they came, they just started running around. We had a few toys out . . . so they immediately started playing.” MARTHA MCDEVITT CHERRY BROOK ZOO’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR