no justice for Hazina as charges against greater Vancouver zoo are dropped
Date: January 24, 2007
Animal cruelty charges against the Greater Vancouver Zoo over its treatment of Hazina the hippo have been dropped. Crown Counsel announced January 23 that it would stay the charges because proceeding with a prosecution would not be in the “public interest.”
VHS and animal lovers everywhere are expressing shock at the decision and VHS is calling on the provincial government to strengthen the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and to regulate the keeping of captive exotic animals. The zoo was charged with cruelty to animals following a BC SPCA investigation into its treatment of Hazina. The investigation was triggered after VHS expressed its concerns to the BC SPCA over Hazina’s long solitary confinement in a small concrete barn at the zoo. Hazina was kept in the barn for 20 months, without companionship or access to the outdoors.
The announcement of the charges on May 31, 2006 at a joint BC SPCA/VHS news conference sparked massive media coverage of Hazina’s conditions and widespread concern over her welfare. The zoo was put under intense pressure to complete its long-promised new hippo facility, which it finally did in June 2006 – 20 months after her arrival.
VHS and Zoocheck Canada had raised Hazina’s situation publicly a number of times since the zoo obtained her in October of 2004, pressing the zoo to improve her situation. Yet the zoo failed to construct better accommodation for Hazina, despite numerous promises to do so. The BC SPCA, when it became involved, gave every chance to the zoo to rectify the situation, but Hazina remained in her barn month after month.
The BC SPCA outlined some of the problems it found with Hazina’s conditions in a press release:
“One of our primary concerns with Hazina is that she has been held in a temporary pen for so long with only a two-foot-deep wading pool,” says Drever. “Because of their tremendous weight, hippopotamuses need the buoyancy of water in order to relieve the pressure on their joints. As Hazina has grown she has not been able to float in the shallow pool and her time outside the pool was spent standing on concrete.” Hazina’s current weight is estimated to be more than 1,000 pounds.
The BC SPCA is also concerned that Hazina has not been outdoors in a year and seven months, has not been able to graze for that period of time and has been living in isolation, deprived of social interaction with her species. “During our investigation we issued a number of orders for action to improve Hazina’s situation, such as adding rubber matting to the floor of her pen to reduce the stress on her joints,” says Drever. “We investigated options for removing Hazina from the zoo but the veterinary experts we consulted agreed that transporting her would subject her to even more stress.”
Four hippos have died prematurely at the zoo. Two drowned in their pond in 1983 and their replacements, Gertrude and Harvey, died in 2004 and 2005. The zoo also lost its accreditation with the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2004 because its hippo facilities were sub-standard. Despite this, and against VHS’s advice, the zoo acquired Hazina in October 2004 – with nowhere to put her except a temporary holding pen, where she has remained until June 2006.
