The flood that swamped St. George’s Island and the lower section of Canadian Wilds caused
$50 million in damage to animal enclosures, botanical exhibits and 40 buildings. Some
structures, such as the South America building, simply cannot be restored and must be
demolished, the animals that lived there relocated. We don’t expect to fully reopen
St. George’s Island until December and, as a result, will lose more than $10 million in revenue
from being closed during our busiest season. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to recover all
the costs of repairs, operating losses and replacing lost buildings. While the Calgary Zoo has
a reputation as one of North America’s best zoos, restoring your zoo completely will take years.

Yet in the aftermath of disaster, we see hope. We see hope in the birth of meerkat pups born to
parents rescued from flood waters. We see hope in the arrival of our first gentoo penguin chick.
We see hope in the bravery and courage of our staff, who in 10 frantic hours executed one of the
most remarkable zoo evacuations in history. And we see hope in the outpouring of care and
concern from our community.

We remain committed to our mission – to take and inspire action to sustain wildlife and wild places.
We remain committed to providing excellence in animal care, in inspiring children and adults to
care about nature. We are committed to rebuilding your Calgary Zoo to restore it as a place for
learning, creating family memories and safeguarding nature through conservation work.

Here is our plan:

• On July 31, we will reopen the 60-acre northern section of your zoo that includes
Penguin Plunge, Canadian Wilds, Karsten Discovery Centre and Prehistoric Park.
We will reduce admission prices to ensure we can resume our place as Calgary’s most
popular family and tourist attraction.

• All zoo memberships have been extended three months for our loyal community of
73,000 members. We have also arranged special benefits in July for members at
Calaway Park, Heritage Park, TELUS Spark,Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and
Discovery Wildlife Park.

• We will reopen St. George’s Island in December. With extensive repairs and
reconstruction now under way, we will suspend all our formal programs for
the next four months. This includes behind-the-scenes tours, adult education
programs, sleepovers, birthday parties, summer camps, weddings,
corporate team-builders, botanical programs, keeper-for-a-day, preschool programs
and all social and corporate events. All school programs are cancelled
until January 2014.

• We need new volunteers. We are grateful for the support of our hundreds of current
dedicated zoo volunteers, who are actively involved in helping us deliver a wonderful
experience for our guests starting July 31; if you are interested in becoming a long-term
volunteer, please apply through www.calgaryzoo.com.
In addition, we encourage our friends to support other community causes still in
desperate need of volunteers at www.yychelps.ca.

• We have been amazed by the generosity of the hundreds of individuals, foundations and
corporations who have offered financial assistance. These friends have pledged more than
$1.5 million in donations over the past three weeks. The support of our community is vital to
helping our rebuilding efforts, so we continue to welcome donations
at www.calgaryzoo.com.

• Looking ahead, we will now accelerate our long-term development plans.
Just three months ago we introduced a master plan that will guide the exciting
redesign of our zoo over the next 20 years. Given the extensive flood damage and
the loss of some buildings, we will advance some projects so we can continue
to offer Calgarians and visitors a world-class experience. In the days ahead, we will
launch a broad fundraising campaign to support this priority. The flood of 2013 may
have changed our city and your Calgary Zoo forever. But we know that with the support
of our community, we can rebuild and create a new and better Calgary Zoo
that you will continue to be proud to call yours.

Sincerely,

Dr. Clément Lanthier
President and CEO
Calgary Zoo