Something like 300,000 people attended programs at the zoo last year. There are years when the total audience for the organized programs at the zoo is 500,000 people. As well as the 25,000 children who attend formal curriculum-based programs at the zoo, there are another 25,000 who attend on a more informal basis at the Calgary Zoo. That pattern is probably the same in CAZA accredited zoos across the country where they exist in urban centres. They are very popular field trip destinations for anybody who is living in a city and teaching in a city.
Maybe I could just make one comment about getting out into the community and teaching people to engage with nature. We have a program that involves school yard naturalization—not school yard beautification, just school yard naturalization. It creates a setting in a school ground, which usually has a couple of species of grass and a lot of asphalt. It creates an opportunity for kids to see a little more biodiversity. The trick is just to get kids in nature, to roll around in the grass, play in the dirt, and get their fingernails dirty. We're starting to sense, as a growing body of research indicates, that a person's world view about nature may start to form as early as age two. For a child who is just playing in the dirt, that could have a profound impact. A child who's squeamish about earthworms is probably going to grow up to be someone who is not a steward of nature and doesn't really care much about the environment.
If you go to the zoo today, you'll see a lot of moms, mostly, who are pushing two-year-olds around in strollers. In schoolyards on the week-ends you'll see a lot of small children playing in the dirt with their older brothers and sisters. Those things are making an impact, which I think zoos are fairly uniquely positioned to do, because they exist in urban environments.