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The zoo’s latest attendance and revenue report, which the board received at a Thursday meeting, also attributes the attendance uptick to warmer weather, with the average temperature in May more than two degrees higher than in the previous year.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that as we approach mid-year the positive results experienced to date in 2012 will continue,” the report notes.

The zoo, which has been mired in controversy in recent months, can certainly use some good news. The fate of the facility’s three African elephants has been a flashpoint since city council voted last year to overturn a board decision and send the pachyderms to a California sanctuary. In April, the zoo lost its prestigious accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, primarily because of city council’s intervention on the elephant file.

But on Thursday, the focus remained squarely on the positive. Along with lauding its attendance, the zoo board voted to establish a Giant Panda Outreach Task Force, including politicians and citizens, to market the zoo’s five-year loan of two giant pandas from China, beginning in 2013.

Councillor and board member Raymond Cho, who showed his colleagues a recent photograph of him cuddling a baby panda in China, will co-chair the outreach task force.

“It’s to highlight the importance of the giant pandas, highlight that we have them here at the zoo … Pandas are just a great way to really engage the public and get out the message of conservation, education and research,” board chairman Joe Torzsok said.

Zoo board members hope the panda exhibit will drive revenues even higher, with Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker suggesting sales for the exhibit should be “sold out before the pandas even show up.”

“It’s not just that, ‘Aren’t they cute and cuddly,’ ” Mr. De Baeremaeker said. “It’s ‘They’re cute and cuddly, and their species may go extinct unless we protect habitat,’ and that’s a very valuable lesson.”

National Post

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