Several animals from the wildlife exhibit at Thunder Bay's Chippewa Park were transferred to a facility that recently sparked controversy in the Ottawa area.
Video from an animal rights group surfaced in the capital in August, appearing to show staff at the Papanack Zoo boasting about beating animals and using string to pry their mouths open.
Animal Justice claimed the footage was recorded in secret by a whistleblower.
However, an individual with ties to the zoo told CTV Ottawa at the time that the video was selectively edited, and does not show the round-the-clock care provided to the animals there.
Animal Justice also made other allegations, including that the zoo was taking baby animals from their mothers so they could be domesticated, handled by the public, and used as "selfie props."
The Manager of Parks and Open Spaces for the City of Thunder Bay, Cory Halvorsen, said in an interview on Monday that Papanack currently has two coyotes, a red fox and an owl from Chippewa.
Nineteen other animals were sent to other facilities, leaving Chippewa to look after a bear, a wolf and three elk, most likely until they die of natural causes.
Halvorsen said that when it was looking for facilities to take its animals, the city worked closely with an animal transporter that it has had years of experience with.
"We were not aware of any of these kinds of incidents prior to sending them there," Halvorsen said. "We were told that they had just passed an inspection, so it was our understanding that it was a licensed facility. That was our requirement when we were sending them there."
He said the city stressed with the animal transporter that he needed to find licensed facilities that were being monitored by animal welfare agencies, adding "it is the standard criteria all of these facilities operate under."
Halvorsen said he understands the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry issues licenses for natural wildlife parks, and that the Ontario SPCA is the agency that performs site inspections.
The SPCA was quoted in August as saying that it was aware of allegations of animal mistreatment at the Papanack facility, and that it was investigating at that time.
