Live animal display at Eby Farmstead in Waterloo Park to come to an end

There will no longer be live animals kept in enclosures in Waterloo Park.

City councilllors voted Monday night to stop keeping animals in the park as part of the Eby Farmstead. The animals will be rehomed and the area taken up by the enclosures will be reimagined as part of a park plan update in 2025.

Robin Milne is the director of parks, forestry and cemeteries for the city and wrote the report that went before councillors during Monday's meeting. He told CBC News that as animals leave the farm, "there's just been a conscious decision not to replace them."

An Engage Waterloo survey that reached more than 350 residents revealed 55 per cent wanted to see the animal display remain, but only if the city invested more money into it.

Milne said they received feedback like, "you need to put money into this, you need to do it properly and it needs to be properly resourced with staff. The infrastructure needs to be improved."

"I just think, in terms of municipal priorities, that's maybe not the direction that we're going," Milne said.

Resident suggests dog park

During the meeting, resident Diego Almaraz brought forward the idea of turning the enclosure into a temporary leash-free dog park until a final decision on the future of that area of the park is made.

He noted Bechtel is the only dog park in the city with another one planned in the west end of the city.

"It's a big space. It's a little out of the way. You basically need to drive to get there," Almaraz said.

"There is an urgent need for an off-leash area within uptown Waterloo, the city centre, highest density of the city," he added. "If you walk through Waterloo Park right now, you will see dozens and dozens of dogs at any given time."

Milne told council the enclosure space is not in a condition where it could be turned into a dog park right away and work would need to be done on it to make it an appropriate space for that use. That includes that the buildings would need to be removed as well as some electrical infrastructure that exists in the enclosures.

'We're not actually losing animals'

Coun. Julie Wright said there are wild animals in the park, so people will still get that experience by visiting the park.

"We're not actually losing animals. On a regular basis, as a park user, I have seen deer, and fox and possums, skunk, raccoons, osprey, beaver, turtles, heron, orioles," she said. "There are tons of animals in that park and I think it would be much more beneficial to be supporting their habitat in the park than the habitat of some aging domesticated animals."

The staff report noted it would cost at least $5 million to properly renovate the space to keep the live animals. Staff also said the current budget is $75,000 to operate Eby Farmstead, but that could cost more than $100,000 annually going forward.

Coun. Royce Bodaly suggested any money saved by moving the animals out of the park should continue to be part of the park's revitalization budget.

Mayor Dorothy McCabe said it was time to make a decision about the animals because it's been a long conversation and she agreed with closing it.

"It's not doing ... anyone a service. The animals, the people who come to the park to explore the park and be in the park, it's not really meeting, I don't think, anyone's needs to have that kind of facility still there that needs updating, animals that are only there five months of the year and are in their geriatric years," McCabe said. "The time is right now to make a decision."