Sad News from the Calgary Zoo

[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!

[Lance]

I agree with you Tony; really weird for them to die that quickly. Zoo officials say the water quality was normal. I'd hate to think someone deliberately put something in the water. Whatever the reason, it's a disaster for the zoo, and a sad day as well.

[steve fedyk]

I con't believe how fast the rays died off. I hope the problem can be solved. If the tank was posioned I hope the people responsable are delt with in a timely fasio.

[Keri]

I didn't know the rays were altered (stingers trimmed)
Not sure how I feel about that


I'd be suspicious of someone putting something in the tank with so many deaths so soon, if all other params were in check, too weird.

What's wrong with ppl??

[Darth Wader]

I agree with Albert. I was wondering about some kind of metal, like copper or something like that and if that could be an explanation. I doubt we would ever get a truthful explanation for what happened tho. I like how in that globe and mail article it had this written
“In-house tests showed that the water was within “normal” parameters. But it could take up to two months for toxicology results.”
2 months, just long enough for people to start forgetting about what happened and turning their eyes to other Calgary news. Haha, man Calgary just drives me crazy these days. They show these horrible events in the news people feel so bad at first, then a week later they bombard you with hockey news and other irrelevant crap and people forget about all the bad stuff. They don’t ever seem to solve anything suspicious in this city, they just forget about it. Same thing that happens with all the murder cases in Calgary, outta sight, outta mind.
That’s my rant for the day.