Toronto Zoo attendance up due to baby animal boom, good weather

By The Canadian Press

The Toronto Zoo says attendance is up for the first time in several years, which it attributes to a baby animal boom and good weather.

The park says more than 1.3 million people visited the zoo in 2016, an increase of nearly 170,000 people compared to those who came to the zoo the previous year.

Zoo spokeswoman Jennifer Tracey says the births of two pandas, four white lion cubs and a rhinoceros calf are the main reasons for the attendance bump.

Attendance had been declining since 2013, when the zoo had seen a boost due to the arrival of two pandas from China.

Tracey says a warm fall, a dry summer and a moderate spring also helped the numbers for 2016.

She says the attendance bump led to increased revenues.

Four rare white lion cubs hanging out in the maternity ward. TORONTO ZOO.

FILE - Five-month-old panda cubs Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue play in an enclosure at the Toronto Zoo, as they are exhibited to the media in a March 7, 2016, file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young, File

A male Bactrian camel calf was born at the Toronto Zoo on Aug. 23. TWITTER/@TheTorontoZoo

Rhinoceros Nandu follows mom Ashakiran at the Toronto Zoo in photos released on May 19, 2016. TORONTO ZOO.

Juno the polar bear cub. Photo courtesy of: The Canadian Army

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