I am sure that most of you have read the article in the Telegraph Journal or heard a news report on one of the radio stations. I am writing this to clarify a few things. To begin this whole situation never had to happen. If there were questions the Board of Trustees only had to come to us and ask them. Why they chose the route they did is something we will never understand. We did not want to bring a lawsuit against the Zoo in the first place but our lawyer advised us this was the only way we could quell the constant barrage of vicious comments that were being made public. There are several mistakes in the newspaper report as we did not start the Cherry Brook Zoo but Pam and Paul May brought the zoo to our city. Len worked at the zoo since 1974 to 2016 which is 42 years not 37 and I began in 1979 when we were asked by the then Board to move in and take over operations. We had been fighting with a lawsuit for over two years and our life has been in limbo. The Zoo’s lawyer called our lawyer in May 2018 asking us to drop the lawsuit and they would drop their side. We said no as we wanted to clear our names, it was never about money. Our lawyer called us into a meeting in August as a discovery hearing had been set by the Zoo’s lawyer (this is not a court of law) and he explained that he would need a retainer of $50,000.00 for this meeting and that it would cost us a minimum of $100,000.00 to do our discovery hearing. He also explained that the Zoo has no equity as the City of Saint John owns the land and therefor any buildings and that we would never recoup our costs and it would be pennies on the dollar. The Zoo’s lawyer is being paid by the Directors Insurance and it is costing them nothing but we have no such coverage and it could ruin us financially. It was at this time we had to seriously sit down and make a decision and the financial burden was too much for us to carry on as we do not have that kind of money and it was agreed that we would drop the lawsuit and that would be the end of it. The comment that there is an ongoing investigation by the City of Saint John Police is incorrect as we have been told by two lawyers that there never was any investigation on the part of the City Police. The Chairman’s statement is incorrect and we are assuming a misunderstanding on her part. We have never been approached or questioned by any member of the City Police in this regard. Faced with insurmountable financial issues we were of the understanding through our lawyer that this would be the end of it by both parties. We did have a defense put together with past Board Members willing to testify on our behalf to the facts but no one in our position could afford to carry this any further. There is a lot more to this story and all we have done over the years and what we have sacrificed for our passion for the zoo. In 2011 the Executive and our Auditor came to us and told us our severance package of $125,000.00 was all the monies that were in the Zoos bank account and if we did not sign off on this the Board would close the Zoo that night. They had legal documents ready for us to sign and a Board of Trustees meeting beginning right then. We had fifteen minutes to decide. We could not in all good conscience be the ones responsible for the Zoo closing and we signed off on our severance package and unknown to us there was a clause written into this document that we could not sure the Zoo or Directors. Our mistake was in trusting people who knew that we would never do anything to harm the Zoo. In the last two years we were at the zoo Len cut his salary by almost $20,000.00 to keep the Zoo going and to protect our staff.  We will never be able to find justice in the courts but despite all that has happened we know that our deep love for the Cherry Brook Zoo is something we will never regret. To continue the back and forth only hurts the Zoo and that is something we never wanted to do. 

Lynda Collrin

Hurricane Arthur and the Cherry Brook Zoo

First of all ” Yes the zoo  is open” as we quickly worked to clear pathways of fallen trees and branches but you still have to watch your step as you go through. What a night last night when Arthur decided to visit the Zoo. No power so no computer and we  watched our giant old growth trees sway further than I have ever seen them before just waiting for them to go beyond bending to crashing down. Torrential rain and sustained high winds did lots of damage in the zoo with flooding and broken trees that have stood for so many years crashing down across pathways and onto animal fencing. Don’t panic the animals are all safe and sound as we followed our protocol and a lock down was put in place. Today they are out checking out the difference in their homes as the sound of chainsaws echoes throughout the zoo. I just wish the television Weather Channel would get it right as I checked on my phone and according to them Saint John. NB was having showers and winds gusting up to 35 mph… I think if we look around we could tell them differently. These are just some of the pictures of damage in the zoo - 

Earth Day is Everyday at the Cherry Brook Zoo

The Cherry Brook Zoo works with some of the most highly endangered species in the world in conjunction with International Species Survival Programs. Karma our young female Siberian Tiger represents a founders bloodline and is a third generation tiger. Her grandmother Pam and her father Baikal both lived at the Cherry Brook Zoo. Pam died at the very senior age of 25 years old and her son Baikal was transferred to the Assinboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg where he mated and produced a litter and Karma his daughter came to in October of 2013. Baikal recently celebrated his 20th. birthday in Winnipeg. The little black monkeys known as Callimico goeldii   that you see here at the Cherry Brook Zoo are the rarest of the rare and are also a part of an International Species Survival Program (what we call SSP's). We hope to have breeding in the future to add to a captive population that helps to conserve these highly endangered primates. We were part of a small group that brought this SSP to Canada for the first time and have seen success in breeding and have sent offspring off to other zoos to expand this important SSP for their future may lay in our hands. We work with many other SSP's and also those animals that are considered threatened or vulnerable.

So come and celebrate Earth Day with us and show your support for a facility where everyday is Earth Day.

Your Support = Their Survival 

EASTER AT THE CHERRY BROOK ZOO

Well it's Bogart the Boxer here just helping with the blog. I live in the Cherry Brook Zoo too and I am so excited that Easter is coming, it will be my first Easter at the Zoo (I'm 7 months old)  and I hope you will join us for our Easter Event at the Zoo. It's been a really long winter and I have finally been able to go out to my yard and run around and play. Yes, there is still snow on the ground but I don't care I'm saying it is spring. Please come out and join us as we celebrate Easter for a fun filled day on April 19, 2014. At the same time you will be supporting all my animal friends that live at the zoo with me. 

The Beginning of our 40th. Anniversary Year

This year we celebrate our 40th. Anniversary at the Cherry Brook Zoo. So far the year has started out with challenges and disappointment. But in a short time I am made to realize that sometimes good things come from bad and despite having to make some very difficult decisions this next year to maintain our operational costs we can and will make this year one of triumph.

The new year came in with ice storms and snow and howling winds that cracked trees like toothpicks leaving behind a trail of destruction. The zoo has been closed since Christmas Day to work on cleanup and hope the several inches of ice on our pathways would give way to milder temperatures. The snapped branches hanging overhead are slowly being cleared away and soon we will be open again. Our beautiful tree planted in the zebra enclosure that my husband Len and I planted in 1979 stands it testament to the strength of mother nature with large branches hanging like broken twigs. This is a tree that I have looked out every morning to see its beauty with the zebra taking shade under and have watched  it grow for the last  35 years.

  

When we finally accept we can move on we wake up after a major rain and wind storm to find our beautiful sign at the entrance to the zoo has been destroyed by vandals. So it's just a sign you think? It was so much more than that; it was a tribute to the new Millennium put up in the year 2000 and was truly a work of art. It is a sign that we were proud of and that many people stood before and had their picture taken and  to lose it in this way just seemed to be the last straw in facing the challenges we have beginning our 40th. year. We have given up so much to ensure that the Cherry Brook Zoo continues into the future you begin to think maybe it is time you just give up. But that is not the case and once again our passion is renewed by the people. The many Face Book comments of support and the tangible support of local merchants who have once again restored our belief in this special place that we share with the animals that call Cherry Brook Zoo home.

It may have been just a sign but it has been the catalyst that strengthens our resolve to not only go on but to know we are not alone and that you truly care. Yes we need the financial support but to know that the Cherry Brook Zoo is not only wanted but cared about means so much. So you see words of support can and so make a difference and your words of support have made the challenges ahead that much easier to face. Two small words that convey so much "Thank You".

A Very Merry Grinchmas

The zoo is getting ready for it's Annual Christmas Event, but there is something brand new this year called  A Very Merry Grinchmas. A rewrite on the original Grinch but with a Zooville twist. The volunteers have been working with the starring animals and decorating the zoo in hopes that Santa and his Reindeer (and we hear Mrs. Claus may be here too) to help us celebrate Christmas in only the way The Cherry Brook Zoo can do it. Below is our flyer that gives a little information but the big question will Santa come to Zooville to save our Christmas?
Fun for everyone and afterwards please join us for Hot Chocolate, Cake, Crafts and visit with Santa and remember to bring your letter to Santa.

December 1 Saturday and December 2 Sunday - the play begins at 1:00 PM 

Bogart the Boxer lives in the zoo and helps with the blog

While your at the zoo please remember to visit the animals and wish them a Merry Christmas!

Regular admission rates apply..... a winter Fund Raiser by the Cherry Brook Zoo Volunteers!

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

Pam when she arrived in 1997

Pam's still playing in the snow

  

Pam still beautiful  -  last picture taken

Time to Say Goodbye   

One of the most difficult roles of working with living animals is the fact that the time will come when you will outlive them. Today I write to tell you of the loss of one of our oldest and most respected members of our zoo family Pam the Siberian Tiger. On Saturday June 23, 2012 (a few weeks shy of her 24^th. birthday) Pam was euthanized due to her deteriorating health with failing kidneys and heart problems coupled with tendon shrinkage and her claws growing into her pads. The vet would have to use bolt cutters to cut her nails and remove them from the pads of her feet and as time went on it became more and more frequent that we would have to tranquilize her and do this procedure. This decision was not made lightly or easily but with the undeniable knowledge that she was in pain and we had to do what was right for her, but very hard for all of us. Pam came to us in 1997 with her son Baikal who would leave us in 2008 to go on to successfully breed and not only add to the small population of studbook tigers breeding in captivity but to make Pam a grandmother.

When Pam arrived in 1997 she was eight years old and past the age of producing any more litters but it was at our insistence that she accompany her son and live out her life here at the Cherry Brook Zoo. To be honest we did not know how many years that would be as a tiger can die as young as ten and usually in their early teens. But Pam would prove to be the exception to the rule living long past her expected lifespan.

This early spring seemed to be very difficult on Pam and she had trouble walking as her hind end was going on her and we tried medication and despite being thin she seemed to come around. But that was to be her final rally and as we carefully monitored her we knew her time was growing short. Understand we act as professionals but there is not a keeper or staff member that was not there to say their final goodbyes to Pam including our Chairperson Alice O’Neill who has known Pam since her arrival. It was equally difficult for our zoo vet Dr. Justason to make that final injection but as she quietly slipped away from us we knew she was at peace. We all have our own memories of Pam but mostly are left with her strength and endurance. She will leave a void in our lives but indelible images of her life with us will remain. Her cage mate since 2010 Nyla stayed beside her door and knows that something has changed in her life but she too will carry the lessons that Pam taught to her in her last years. Pam’s bloodline lives on through her son Baikal and the cubs he has produced. Who knows, maybe in the future one of his cubs will return to live at the Cherry Brook Zoo and the circle will continue.

Rest in Peace Pam                                                        Born Bronx Zoo July 1989   Died June 23, 2012