Not quite sure where the BC SPCA has been all this time as young Hazina Hippo has very frequently been in the media and as have scathing reports of the other Hippo's who lived and died at the Zoo. I need not even mention the word elephant either.

A few media reports follow:

Following a string of mishaps and public relations "nightmares" including the death of one of their hippos, the Vancouver Zoo has lost its accreditation with the Canadian Zoo Association (CAZA). However, after two years of effort from a renewed management team, hope is on the horizon. Among the many improvements will be a new 186 square meter (2,000 sq. ft.) hippo facility with an indoor, heated pool. The zoo has also brought in a 10-month-old hippo named Hazina from Quebec's Granby Zoo to join their remaining hippo, 2700 kg (6,000 lb) Harvey.
Harvey reportedly has a "short fuse" making him unpredictable. The two will live separately until Hazina, who is currently ~230 kg (500 lb) is big enough to be with him. When the new facility is ready, they will be able to see and smell each other through a fence. When Hazina reaches sexual maturity in 3 to 4 years, the zoo will determine whether to breed the pair or put Hazina on birth control.
Source: Aldergrove via mytelus.com - 28 October 04

Animal welfare: Zoo hippo's death shocks staff

One of two hippos housed at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove is dead.

by Leanna Jantzi

It still wasn't known Monday what killed a hippopotamus living in Aldergrove's Greater Vancouver Zoo on Friday.

The autopsy results are starting to come in from the provincial veterinarian in Abbotsford, said the zoo's animal care manager Jamie Dorgan on Monday, but an explanation for Gertrude's death has still not been found.

Gertrude was one of two hippos living at the zoo. She was 22 years old when she died around 11 a.m. on Friday.

Her death was a shock for zoo staff, Dorgan said.

"She was fine that morning," Dorgan said. "We didn't see it coming at all. There was no reason at all to suspect she was ill, let alone dying."

Gertrude's male companion, Harvey, has now been left alone. The hippos have been calling the Greater Vancouver Zoo home since 1984. It is possible the zoo will look to replace Gertrude, Dorgan said.

"We really don't want to leave Harvey alone," he said.

Plans to create a larger, heated hippo enclosure will continue, Dorgan said.

The zoo is waiting on a building permit from Langley Township and hopes to break ground in September.

Gertrude's death comes about three weeks after former zoo resident Tina the elephant died in Tennessee.

Necropsy results indicate she died from a heart problem that was likely a genetic defect, said the Elephant Sanctuary's Carol Buckley. More tests are being done.

The Vancouver Zoo has denied rumors that their 15 month old hippo, Hazina, will be shipped to another facility. The Vancouver Zoo lost its accreditation from the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums last year largely on account of its failure to build a promised new heated hippo barn, and improve the outdoor hippo enclosure. After the rumors began, Zoo Check Canada and the Vancouver Humane Society had issued a joint statement praising Hazina's exit.
However, according to Vancouver Zoo's animal care manager Jamie Dorgan told MetroValley News that Hazina is staying.
Hazina - the name means 'treasure' in Swahili - was acquired two months after Gertrude, an adult hippo, died in August. Harvey, Gertrude's mate, was found dead in his enclosure in January.

Sources: Abbotsford News (online) - 29 March 2005
Greater Vancouver Zoo: Toy hippos to help house Hazina

The zoo has teamed up again with Telus in a hippo-based marketing campaign.

by Matthew Claxton

A lot of people took Telus's I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas campaign literally when it aired during the holiday season.

Hippo toys became wildly popular in western Canada as the commercials starring Hazina, the Greater Vancouver Zoo's resident juvenile hippo, aired frequently.

Now the zoo hopes to use that fervor to help fund Hazina's new enclosure.

Telus is now selling stuffed plush hippo toys, using Hazina's image to market them, and the zoo's share of the sales is expected to be between $40,000 and $60,000.

The money from the sales will go towards the $500,000 cost of building Hazina's new enclosure and barn. The majority of the funding is coming from the zoo owners and from admission revenues, along with some funding from sponsor Impark.

The new enclosure will include an indoor pond, a restraining area where Hazina can be checked by a vet, and three stalls to accomodate any other hippos the zoo might acquire.

The hippo for Christmas campaign had been so successful, Telus wanted to continue helping out the hippo, her keeper said.

"They just wanted to do something else to just chip in, because they'd done so well with her," said Hazina's keeper, Jamie Dorgan.

So far, Dorgan hasn't seen the new hippo stuffed toys based on Hazina.

"We actually don't have one ourselves," he said. "Hopefully we'll get one and we'll stick it in her barn."

The idea for the new campaign came up at the end of last year, as the first ad campaign was being retired.

Zoo staff and Telus employees met and crafted the new campaign, which will keep Hazina in the public eye for a few more months.

The juvenile hippo likely won't mind, as she turned out to be a ham when the cameras were turned on her last year.

After a week of acclimating herself to the presence of the camera crew, she happily strutted around as soon as the film was rolling.

She won't be outgrowing her baby hippo image too quickly, Dorgan said.

"She's growing slowly, like a hippo does," he said.

Hazina's first campaign for the phone company raised $12,000 towards the cost of her enclosure.

Neither campaign has made the Vancouver Humane Society happy.

The society has long criticized the Greater Vancouver Zoo for the way it houses its animals, especially the hippos.

The zoo lost its accreditation as a member of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 2004, largely because the association wanted to see the hippo barn upgraded.

The hippos housed at the zoo during that time have since died.

Peter Fricker, the Vancouver Humane Society's communications director, was critical of the way Hazina has been kept without the company of other hippos in a small enclosure for a year and a half.

"My question to Telus would be, why would you give your money to a zoo with that record?" he said.

The construction of the new building is underway now, although bad winter weather has delayed the expected completion date until sometime in April.