Close Chippewa wildlife park, urges Thunder Bay councillor

At least one Thunder Bay city councillor wants to see the wildlife exhibit at Chippewa Park closed down to save money.

Rebecca Johnson brought up the idea during Tuesday night’s budget meeting. She said revenues collected from the animal display have decreased, while the cost to keep it open has increased.

Each of the 30 animals and four birds in the wildlife park costs the city several thousand dollars annually to look after, Johnson said.

“I have a concern that we are, for one bird out there ... it costs you $3,000 to keep it. I think that that's getting far too extraordinary to be able to continue that.”

Johnson said she'll bring a resolution before council soon to close the exhibit.

“The revenues have gone down $10,000 from what the projected figure was [and] the costs have gone up $29,000,” she continued.

“I think we seriously need to look at what we can and what we need to have in this community. Do we really need a wildlife park in the future?  I think this is one place that we can reduce costs, and we can even sell the fencing and all the rest of it and make a little bit of extra money."

The following is City of Thunder Bay financial information for operating the Chippewa Park Wildlife Exhibit and caring for the 30 animals and four birds currently living there: