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The city is looking to close down the Hamilton Aviary and rehome the 24 exotic birds currently living in its rundown building, after a public works committee meeting vote this week.
The bird sanctuary and education centre is owned by the city and has been in Hamilton for nearly 100 years.
The committee unanimously moved a motion forward Monday with nine recommendations, including that the city, a veterinarian and the Friends of the Aviary — the volunteer group that takes care of the birds — will have to create a strategy together to rehome the birds by Oct. 30, 2024.
It’s a feat that Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson says will be no easy task.
“I think the Friends of the Aviary would tell you that [the birds] are not pets, and that makes it really challenging to rehome them,” said Wilson at Monday’s meeting.
In the motion, the city said the building must be vacated by Nov. 1, 2024 at the latest.
The motion will now go to council for a final vote.
According to a report prepared by manager of forestry and horticulture, Robyn Pollard, the city will find another facility to house the birds if the lease from the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), which owns the building and the grounds at Churchill Park, expires early.
Julia Berardi, executive assistant to the RBG CEO Nancy Rowland, told CBC Hamilton the Churchill Park land “is not captured in the early works” of its 25-year Master Plan.
“The long-term use of the space down in the Churchill Park area will be determined as RBG advances its Master Plan,” she said.
Hamilton Aviary board president Kimberly O’Hare said the aviary’s closure has been a long time coming, after decades of indecision about the Churchill Park location.
“We have to move forward,” she said.
Future of aviary uncertain for decades
The aviary was originally part of Dundurn Castle from 1927 until the 1990s. It was moved to the RBG property in 1996.
The Churchill Park location was never meant to be permanent, Pollard’s report says.
In the 2010 Gage Park Master Plan, the city drew up plans that included an indoor-outdoor aviary as part of the Gage Park Greenhouse, but the bird sanctuary was not included in the final build.
Cynthia Graham, city director of environmental services, said in an email funding the building for the aviary in Gage Park “was not supported by council when the plan was presented in 2010.”
The volunteer-run non-profit group Friends of the Aviary, which has taken care of the birds since 1992, was hoping to build a new aviary or retrofit an existing building.
But the group has struggled to receive funding through grants because the city owns the birds and leases the building and grounds at 85 Oak Knoll Dr. from the RBG, the group said.
“We’ve been caring for the birds 365 days a year for the past over 20 years, but the city still legally owns the birds,” O’Hare said.
The group said it will continue to look for a new site with the hopes it can one day re-open. In the meantime, the non-profit will continue supporting the birds and their new owners after they are rehomed, O’Hare said, and when a new site is found she said the aviary will be willing to take the birds back.
City to remove aviary as asset entirely
With Monday’s motion moving forward to council, the city is one step closer to removing the aviary as a city asset entirely.
According to Pollard’s report, closing the sanctuary would save the city around $57,648 per year.
Graham said the city is working to sell the birds to the Friends of the Aviary “for a nominal fee” as part of the re-homing process.
Operations at the aviary have been winding down for the past decade, with the number of birds declining from 65 in 2010, to 37 in 2020, to the current 24 birds.
The site is a closed aviary, which means it does not accept new birds or breed existing birds.
“Finding a site for an aviary is extremely, extremely challenging. It’s not just the capital, it’s the operating — and because it’s a closed site, then it does raise questions of the future,” said Wilson.
O’Hare said even if all 24 birds are happily rehomed, there is still a need in the region for a bird sanctuary.
“We get calls every single week of people trying to rehome a bird [to the aviary], whether they’ve had it for 30 years or a few years,” she said.
“There’s definitely a need for a sanctuary in the Hamilton area.”
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