Toronto Zoo CEO, Dolf DeJong, planting trees for a program that aims to restore native biodiversity.Provided
During one of his regular weekend-duty shifts, recalls Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong, he recently paused to sit in the Indo-Malaya Pavilion, watching both an animal and a half dozen children who were also present. “It was a tomistoma, which is a slender-snouted crocodile, partially out of the water and looking gorgeous,” says DeJong, “and the kids were looking at it in complete awe and wonder.
“The zoo experience creates memories that connect people to the bigger picture – that we’re not alone on this planet,” DeJong says. “It was the kind of moment that reminds me why I do what I do.”
The zoo as a whole is focused on a better, more sustainable environment for the planet’s biodiversity and on leading by example, says Kyla Greenham, manager of conservation programs and environment. Hence its Green Eco-Zoo Team – a group of volunteer employees headed by Greenham who report directly to DeJong – and its annual audits examining everything from waste control to palm oil and energy use.
And the zoo’s ambitious green targets: net-zero to landfill by 2027, net-zero water consumption and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, while electrifying its auto fleet and restoring 80 hectares of natural space – close to a third of its total area – by 2030.
“I’m very confident we’ll be able to achieve those targets,” Greenham says. “We have several different projects in the works right now for each one, including a program called Close the Loop where we’re addressing our waste management, and increasing the opportunity for compostables to be collected on site.”
As for one unavoidable question, yes, indeed, there is a lot of manure to manage – some 3,000 tonnes annually – and the zoo already has that covered. “It goes to the biogas plant, which was built here at the zoo by an outside organization called ZooShare,” says Greenham. “They convert it into electricity for the Ontario Hydro grid, enough to power around 250 homes per year.”
Sustainability is a crucial pillar in the zoo’s concept of itself and its mission. “You really can’t separate biodiversity loss, habitat deterioration and climate change in their overall impact on animals,” says DeJong. “You need to be addressing every side of it, tackle carbon while protecting spaces, and conserve individual species and genetics. All those things need to come together when we talk about saving wildlife.”
That’s why the zoo’s upcoming 50th anniversary – it opened Aug. 15, 1974 – is more focused on the future than the past, despite DeJong’s pride in its previous accomplishments. “We have an amazing legacy,” the CEO says, “of collecting sperm, eggs, embryos and living tissue as a genetic insurance starting in the 1980s. We have used sperm frozen in 1981 to artificially inseminate bison for calves that were born in 2016. Instead of having to restore a population from one or two dozen animals, you can literally have hundreds of them represented in the biobank.”
But the future is onrushing, and the zoo is in what Greenham and DeJong call a “unique” position to champion sustainability. “We have much to show in our own practices and structures as well as in our animal care, and our visitors are incredibly supportive,” says DeJong. “And that is really critical, because none of this matters without the public at large, without striving to turn 1.3 million annual guests into 1.3 million activists.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.