Time to end Eby Farmstead's animal display in Waterloo Park, city staff report recommends

It's time to end the animal displays in Waterloo Park, a staff report to city council recommends.

The staff report, set to go before councillors on Monday, says the Eby Farmstead shelters are outdated, residents want to see quality of life improvements for the animals and the animals themselves are approaching the end of their lives.

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

Milne said staff didn't come to this conclusion on their own. An Engage Waterloo survey that reached more than 350 residents revealed 55 per cent would like to see the animal display remain so long as the city invests more 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.

The displays started in 1967 as a centennial project and was promoted as being a zoo. It initially contained wild animals like deer, black bears, cougars, and timberwolves. In the years since, the city shifted the focus from wild animals to agricultural livestock.

The herd now contains two donkeys, one miniature horse, two alpacas, three llamas and an Appaloosa horse.

"With the exception of the one llama, they're all aging," Milne said.

Milne also said as Waterloo's population grows and modernizes, there's more confusion and disapproval of the displays.

"We get those weird complaints that, it's really hot, the animals look hot or they're laying down. Just things that you wouldn't expect if people acknowledged how agricultural livestock were cared for," Milne said.

"They're used to having a dog or a cat in their apartment. I think there's this thought that [the livestock animals] should be treated like pets."

But Milne said this kind of feedback isn't anything new.

"The question about Eby Farm has been in the room for a number of years," he said. "I have a report on my desk that dates back to 1992 that talks about the need for significant changes."

The city announced it was considering the future of the live animal exhibits in May when public consultations were started.

Rob Laidlaw, the director of animal rights organization Zoocheck, told CBC News in May that the council deliberations regarding the future of Eby Farmstead were not surprising. 

"For a number of years, municipalities with longstanding animal exhibits, housing either domesticated livestock, wildlife or both, have gradually been divesting themselves of these kinds of operations," Laidlaw told CBC News.

Animal Alliance of Canada — a non-profit organization committed to the protection of all animals — also said in May that it was thankful that council is considering reimagining this space.

"Unless council is prepared to invest considerable funds to make the necessary changes, namely a secondary perimeter fence and restricting public access to hours when staff are present, we recommend turning the remaining 1.18 acres into an animal-free space for the community," CEO Lia Laskaris wrote in an email to CBC News.

Milne said he's hoping to get a clear direction from council during Monday's meeting. If they decide to decline the report and keep the animals, he said he wants to know what that will look like.

If they accept his report, he wants to open the conversation up to residents about how to reimagination that area of the park. That could include workshops, outreach, online surveys and "visioning sessions" which could take up to 16 months to complete.