Enough is enough...the Calgary Zoo needs

[lastlight]

Agree with everything said here. While a zoo isn't maybe a perfect thing to have exist in the first place it does bring everyday people closer to nature and hopefully make them care about it a bit more. I support the zoo even tho in some ways I don't fully agree with them even existing...same thing as this hobby I love so much.

[EmilyB]

Originally Posted by Treebeard

Looks to me like a freak accident. How many children have died from accidents with toys, cribs, etc that have found to be unsafe and recalled after the fact?

I don't think about that so much. I care about animals a lot....

There has to be a few of each type you know....

[lorenz0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBc0HgW2zHw

found the ctv news video

[Keri]

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.

[ElGuappo]

Originally Posted by Keri

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

The wild.

.

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

[G1GY]

I only read the first post so I'm probably going to say something that someone has already said, but here goes anyhow.

It's kind of crappy that an animal under the care of humans has had this happen, but these kinds of unfortunate accidents actualy happen to people too! How many children got hung by the cords of blinds before we learned and you can still go to Rona and buy a set of blinds. How many young children have drowned in 5 gallon water buckets? I haven't seen paint available in a single use bag yet. How many kids have been suffocated by plastic bags? And the list goes on and on.

When we see a wild goats neck in the jaws of a large cat on National Geographic............ It's natural sellection, but if that same goat gets accidentaly killed at the zoo people sometimes lose focus of the bigger picture.(All of the good that zoos provide.)

It's sad and all, but I couldn't justify even spending the time to think about closing a zoo for something like this when there are so many "people" that could use some help in this world.

Just my 2 cents.

[Scythanith]

+1 I have to agree. There are far larger issues at hand. I do agree to a point with the original post, and yes it is a tragedy when someone/something dies needlessly.

I honestly believe no one that keeps a reef tank can claim to be a friend of the environment. We are selfish beings and as selfish beings we like having things to amuse ourselves. It's when we look beyond our own wants and needs that we can claim to be environmentally conscientious.

Am I environmentally friendly.... no, I have multiple tanks.

Overall I think Zoo's make a positive impact on a societies views on nature. It makes people interested, and when we are interested we care. This is a double edged sword. On one side it makes people interested, and therefore want to have the things they are interested in (reef tanks, rare animals/plants, etc). On the other side it makes people consider the consequences to their actions and decisions they make concerning the environment.

Someday I'd like to see corals and sea life on the reefs and that's it. But the flipside to that is that maybe one day the only corals and reefs we will be able to observe will be in tanks... Maybe proper conservation and collection in institutionary established reef systems will save the reefs?

In the end who knows, do I think humans will destroy the oceans forever... not really. And if we do I'd bet humans wouldn't be too far behind. The Earth would recuperate, new animals would evolve to fill the niches and life would go on.

And the entire time we'd continue to kill each other over natural resources and religious ideals.

Man..... that was a rant!

Scott

Originally Posted by G1GY

I only read the first post so I'm probably going to say something that someone has already said, but here goes anyhow.

It's kind of crappy that an animal under the care of humans has had this happen, but these kinds of unfortunate accidents actualy happen to people too! How many children got hung by the cords of blinds before we learned and you can still go to Rona and buy a set of blinds. How many young children have drowned in 5 gallon water buckets? I haven't seen paint available in a single use bag yet. How many kids have been suffocated by plastic bags? And the list goes on and on.

When we see a wild goats neck in the jaws of a large cat on National Geographic............ It's natural sellection, but if that same goat gets accidentaly killed at the zoo people sometimes lose focus of the bigger picture.(All of the good that zoos provide.)

It's sad and all, but I couldn't justify even spending the time to think about closing a zoo for something like this when there are so many "people" that could use some help in this world.

Just my 2 cents.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Scythanith

+1 I have to agree. There are far larger issues at hand. I do agree to a point with the original post, and yes it is a tragedy when someone/something dies needlessly.

I honestly believe no one that keeps a reef tank can claim to be a friend of the environment. We are selfish beings and as selfish beings we like having things to amuse ourselves. It's when we look beyond our own wants and needs that we can claim to be environmentally conscientious.

Am I environmentally friendly.... no, I have multiple tanks.

Overall I think Zoo's make a positive impact on a societies views on nature. It makes people interested, and when we are interested we care. This is a double edged sword. On one side it makes people interested, and therefore want to have the things they are interested in (reef tanks, rare animals/plants, etc). On the other side it makes people consider the consequences to their actions and decisions they make concerning the environment.

Someday I'd like to see corals and sea life on the reefs and that's it. But the flipside to that is that maybe one day the only corals and reefs we will be able to observe will be in tanks... Maybe proper conservation and collection in institutionary established reef systems will save the reefs?

In the end who knows, do I think humans will destroy the oceans forever... not really. And if we do I'd bet humans wouldn't be too far behind. The Earth would recuperate, new animals would evolve to fill the niches and life would go on.

And the entire time we'd continue to kill each other over natural resources and religious ideals.

Man..... that was a rant!

Scott

What if everything in your tank cam from ora? hmm

[Scythanith]

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

What if everything in your tank cam from ora? hmm

I guess if you made your own live rock, had a renewable power source, and got all of your livestock from established captive breeding program you'd be safe haahaa!

ORA is doing a good thing. I'm sure they have had their fair share of death and mounds of coral skeletons but as was pointed out earlier in this thread, point on reef keeper out that has never lost a living organism in their tank and I will give them a good pat on the back and ask for advice!

Lets get this clear, I am in no way against mariculture or captive breeding programs but they aren't all successful and a lot of animals die in the process. But hey, I guess it's ok since we brought them into this world.....we can take them out (sarcastic)!