Calgary Zoo asks for help to care for animals amid COVID-19 financial crunch

The Calgary Zoo needs half a million dollars each month to care for its animals and so it'sasking for donations to make it through afinancial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the zoo stays closed for three months, it's poised to lose up to $27 million,chief development officer Steven Ross said.

At issue, though, is the cost of caring for its nearly 1,000 creatures in particular which costs roughly$550,000 a month.

Ross said he worries they will have to cut back conservation efforts to make up the difference.

"We are a wildlife conservation charity," Ross told CBC News.

"Wedeliver programming all around the globewhere ... we're working in communities to release wildlife back into the wild, to research and understand these wildlife better."

The conservation programs include protecting whooping cranes, burrowing owls, greater sage-grouses, and black-tailed prairie dogs. Calgary scientists work with agencies around the world, including in Madagascar with lemurs, Kenya with mountain bongos, and Ghana withhippos.

The zoo has been asking its members and supportersthrough email and social media to consider donating.

Thedoors closed on March 16to comply with Alberta Health orders barring large gatherings, and so lost significant revenue from visitors.

To deal with the crunch, the zoo temporarily laid off 60 per cent of its staff,affecting about 250 people.

The zoo was founded in 1929 and is nowhome to nearly 1,000 creaturesfrom 119 species.