Sad News from the Calgary Zoo

[Delphinus]

I just heard this as well. Terrible, just terrible.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

[LeeR]

some one broke into the spider monkey cage at the greater vacnouver zoo and killed one monkey and maybe stole the other.... just another weird zoo thing that happend this week.

[EmilyB]

Maybe people should keep their frickin' hands off....

[Delphinus]

I know other public zoos/aquariums have "touch" tanks and I don't know what kind of mortality they see, as a tourist in these places you'd never really know..

But the aquarist in me says when you see nearly 100% die off in a system in 24 hours, there are only so many explanations. The tank crashed, or, something was introduced. I don't know how sensitive rays are to ammonia/nitrite, but if the tank was crashing, I think the decline would be more gradual.

So I think something was introduced, either accidentally, or, maybe even deliberately.

Obviously a PR nightmare for the zoo, I don't know how you can pull out of this. Close the exhibit permanently? Or try again? Either option is going to make them look bad.

I feel just sick about this. 34 dead rays... I can't believe it. So very sad.

[xtreme]

ya that really sucks

[Ephraim]

surprised they lasted this long, the way that system was designed. Probably the fluctuating SG. there goes 500K well spent.

[michika]

So sad!

[ElGuappo]

i was going to ask if you could touchthe glass. this could be an issue. maybe a school field trip with 100 kids pouning on the glass for half an hour. who knows. but yes a PR nightmare.

[Reefhawk1]

The problem these days is you can't trust people. A toxin was probably introduced into the water causing a catastrophic loss of life. Sad day at the zoo for sure.

[Patrick1]

I support the zoo and attend it alot. I live close by and have a year round pass. I took some time when they first started, and spoke with the guy who was (running things??). I had some questions just as a normal visitor, not trying to be a salt water smart ***. I figured he would have some amazing knowlege and some really kick *** technical background. I was a little rattled at how little he knew beyond what was posted on the wall. After that I had a great deal of concern about those rays.

They kept telling people to keep their hands out of the water and, only a few people who were with zoo staff could touch the rays. Anyone else who has been there on a busy day can agree that there might have been like 5 people out of 400 that didn't have their hands in the water. I know lots of people who keep rays and they keep their hands out of the tank. I know it's easy to point out faults but, for the people running the zoo after the last big mess up. You would think that they would have put more thought into this one.