It's sad that it happened but...you know where a lot of animals die?

The wild.

I know that statement may incite some but it's true, accidents happen.

Now I'm not going to get into an ethical debate about whether zoos are right or wrong but I do believe that we have a moral obligation to provide the best care possible for the animals we keep, and that in this case if it was truely a freak accident then we can't really fault them for it.....Yeah, they've had some animals die over the last couple of years but out of hundreds of animals those are still pretty good odds!


As far as zoos go, Calgary is pretty decent, if the girl from the gift shop was stupid enough to say "oh, it happens all the time" we have to remember....she's the girl from the giftshop. I doubt she personally cares for any of the animals, which is a good thing!

I'd like to know what eventuallu happened with the sting ray thing too.

Good point could have been a meal a long time ago.

I've yet to see a wild animal hang themselves :), plus don't knock the gift girl..it's ignorant.

good point made. IME people who work in the gift shop don't generally mix with animal care staff and aren't always hired for... intelligence. That said, there are exceptions. Right now im dating a girl from the giftshop who's even more than a fish nut than i am and is pretty tight with some of the cold saltwater aquarists. technically, either way, something like that should be radio'd in IMMEDIATELY and I wouldn't be surprised if giftshop girl said that just to placate the woman but reacted right away by contacting her superior or the care staff directly.

imo, comparing the zoo to the wild is apples and oranges. a zoo (or any captive application) tries to mimic nature but will ultimately fail. captive animals usually either die from captivity effects (like our freak accident goat among others) or outlive their wild counterparts. neither is natural.

Wild animals get hung up in fences fairly often. I've found 3 deer hung up in fences over the years. Last spring I had to cut a fence to get a calf moose out of it. The moose was fine, Momma was a bit cranky though.

I go to the zoo almost every Sunday morning with my family, we love it there. With regards to the sting rays. I had a nice chat with one of the keepers about it and they never were able to determine exactly what happened, I guess we will never know. It's much like our own tanks, we wake up one morning and have SPS RTN or find a fish belly up. It is sad but it happens :(

I don't know. It's sad and it sucks .. but sooner or later we all check out somehow, that's life. Quality of life is probably more important than quantity of life. It's a sad tragic accident that a goat met its end on a plaything intended for its amusement but what can you do, it's a freak accident: Look at things, learn from it, and move on as best you can.

Make no mistake fatal accidents happen in the wild all the time too. Let's not sugar coat the fact that life in the wild tends to be rather harsh and for many, not all that long..

I go to the zoo almost every week too, with a young family I am grateful for what good the zoos do effect, education and awareness being one of their functions. Not everyone will see wild elephants in their lifetimes, but seeing one for real trumps reading about them in books. “We only save what we love. We only love what we know. We only know what we have been taught.” Something like that anyhow.

I miss the conservatory though, as a psuedo orchid-geek and plants-in-general-geek that was my favourite part to visit. Hope its replacement will be as cool as they promise it will .. frustrating to have to wait so long though!!

I agree about the conservatory, that was always one of my favourite spots, all the way back to when I was a kid. There is just something nice about sitting down surrounded by flowers and butterflies on a cold winter day.

I was dissapointed when they took the cafateria out of there. I hope the rebuild will be just as nice.

FWIW, and if I'm not mistaken, the Vancouver zoo, of what little is left of it, is being/will be phased out as the animals slowly die off of old age. Eventually, all that will be left is the aquarium. Again,...if I'm not mistaken. I believe that is the plan.

Again...i've never seen an animal hang themselves in the WILD. That meaning without the encroachment of humans in one way or another. If you had no fence there the moose wasn't going to run into a tree and get tangled now was it :)