Sad News from the Calgary Zoo

[Brent F]

Originally Posted by i have crabs

im guessing a possible disolved oxygen issue but just a guess, i would think if it was polluted by someone either by accident or on purpose it would have to be alot of something to mess up a tank that size and i just dont see it happening.
also trimming the stingers is the same as trimming your fingernails but im not shure how you hold down a 2' ray and trim its barb? and im quite shure the baby hippo did not die it was on loan from a zoo in quebec and is now back thier in a brand new exzibit.

My rays would grow a replacement stinger every couple months. I wonder if they have the stingers surgically removed instead of just trimming them? It would be a hassle having to trim them every month or so.

[Patrick1]

My 2 Cents,

I wrote earlier in this thread that I spoke with the (expert). Thinking I was going to get some deep insight into the world of rays. Not the case. So why did they die? Well no one poisoned them. The water tests for nitrates etc, was good. The equipment was all working but, they still haven’t come foreword to say that there was no pollution. Lets face it even with regular water changes 400 hands in the tank an hour is going to be a problem. The zoo even said they didn’t check for pollutions. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the complete water tests showed something was in the water (not deliberately) but it has to be there and the zoo wont say what. My vote; A whole bunch of greasy hand pollution.

[ElGuappo]

well lets face it kids are not well know for having clean hands, and at a place like the zoo..........

have they done autopsies? maybe someone threw a pocket full of change in and they ate it. i remember way back when they seals die from this. they last time i was at the zoo (many moons ago) they still had pic and such on display. ithink they found almost 10 bucks in small change in its stomache.

[albert_dao]

Copper in nearly undetectable trace amounts = insta-death for sharks and rays.

[Brent F]

I still have a hard time with the idea of pollution from hands being the cause because I wouldn't think they would all die so closely together. It doesn’t make sense to me that 400 hands per hour for months does nothing, then suddenly they all die in one day? I wouldn't think pollution would act that quickly.

A more plausible scenario that could be caused by hands would be introduction of a disease such as salmonella which is a common problem for zoos. I used salmonella as an example because when I worked at a zoo in the late 70s salmonella was a common reason for animals dying suddenly.

Another plausible scenario would be accidental addition / spillage of a large enough quantity of a chemical used at a zoo. For example, there are sterilizing chemicals in displays to prevent disease from the feces. A tub of chemical accidentally introduced could cause sudden death. There could be a copper based chemical, which as Albert mentioned, would be very toxic. Copper is common in landscaping material as a rot inhibitor.