Friends of Chippewa Park are hoping to rally the public to show its continued support for the wildlife exhibit at the city-owned park.
The volunteer group is circulating two separate petitions to show council the public wants the zoo to continue. The move comes a day after Coun. Rebecca Johnson publicly suggested it should be closed to help the city save money during a tough budget year.
Lorraine Lortie-Krawczuk, president of Friends of Chippewa Park, called the zoo an important part of the natural environment of Thunder Bay, home to a broad range of animals representative of Northwestern Ontario wildlife.
"And at the same time the vast majority of the animals and birds have been born and raised in a zoo setting and the remainder have been rescued at a very young age and would not be able to survive in the wild," she said in a release issued late Wednesday night.
"Hundreds of school groups tour through the wildlife exhibit each June in order to expand their knowledge of the natural environmen. There is nowhere else that they can go to see these animals close up without placing themselves at risk. To close the wildlife exhibit is to remove the educational opportunity from our children."
A night earlier Johnson and Coun. Shelby Ch'ng were singing a different tune.
"I would like to see us close that wildlife exhibit," Johnson said.
Ch'ng wants it closed for different reasons, saying zoos are archaic and barbaric.
"I do not believe that we should be paying $100,000 a year to gawk at animals in cages,” she said.
Lortie-Krawczuk said the $100,000 annual cost to operate the controversial zoo is a worthwhile investment of public property tax dollars.
The online petition can be found at www.chippewapark.ca, as well as on their Facebook and Twitter pages. Signatures will also be collected this weekend at the zoo itself, which is open for the Family Day weekend from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m..
Hot chocolate and coffee will also be handed out to visitors.
-- With files from Jamie Smith
