Enough is enough...the Calgary Zoo needs

justinl · #1 01-19-2009, 09:12 AM

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.

hillbillyreefer · #2 01-19-2009, 03:41 PM

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.

digital-audiophile · #3 01-19-2009, 04:26 PM

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

Delphinus · #4 01-19-2009, 04:50 PM

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!!

digital-audiophile · #5 01-19-2009, 04:59 PM

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.

Pan · #6 01-19-2009, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

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.

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

digital-audiophile · #7 01-19-2009, 06:06 PM

How many mountain goats fall off of cliff faces though

Delphinus · #8 01-19-2009, 06:13 PM

There's no denying that human encroachment has a tendency to make things worse, but accidents are accidents and they happen. I remember watching a documentary once about these elephants somewhere in SE Asia (forget where exactly) that would literally migrate along these narrow paths on these sheer cliffs. There were plenty of elephant skeletons at the bottom of the cliff. There may be plenty of things humans can be blamed for but this would be not be one (for a change!!). Wish I could remember more about the documentary, sorry.. I tried googling it but ran up short in the time I gave myself to find some corroborating site.

But all I really mean is that animals aren't so sagely wise to never have accidents in the wild. Life in the wild is harsh man. Eat or be eaten, etc...

hillbillyreefer · #9 01-19-2009, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

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

You are correct, unfortunately there is something called reality. Guess the horrible person didn't have to cut the fence either but I did. Then I had to fix it to keep the ranchers cows in. Guess I didn't have to but then somebody would have been mad at him because his cows were out on another persons property, or worse standing on the road for you and your kids to come along and hit with your vehicle.

Pan · #10 01-19-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

You are correct, unfortunately there is something called reality. Guess the horrible person didn't have to cut the fence either but I did. Then I had to fix it to keep the ranchers cows in. Guess I didn't have to but then somebody would have been mad at him because his cows were out on another persons property, or worse standing on the road for you and your kids to come along and hit with your vehicle.

I;m neither condemning you for the fence nor the rebuilding of said fence. I was only stating the rather obvious point that in general an animal isn't going to hang themselves in naturally occurring wilderness. That being said of course accidents happen, people try and use reason to figure out why, this does not work. It's like the people who build next to the ocean in tsunami country and then when the inevitable happens, cry out why why did this happen to me. It didn't it just happened, you were there...things do just happen. Poor goats and things are not exempt from it

In retrospect i will praise you for rebuilding the fence and not having a helping hand in death by cow for the little kiddies and their parents out for a nice sunday drive through cowland