Enough is enough...the Calgary Zoo needs

[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)!

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

FWIW, and if I'm not mistaken, the Vancouver zoo, of what little is left of it, is being/will be phased out as the animals slowly die off of old age. Eventually, all that will be left is the aquarium. Again,...if I'm not mistaken. I believe that is the plan.

The zoo that used to be in stanley park was a joke.
It was pure tourist attraction and has not eheld animals for years.

The vancouver zoo, in Abbottsford, is slightly better but still nowhere near as nice of a facility as the Calgary zoo.

One way or the other, animals are pretty much going to be eventually relegated to man made habitats, the ones that can adapt to such a crappy life anyways.

1 goat hangs himself?
big deal.
We are killing our entire planet a little bit faster everyday.
I'm an animal lover, but I am also a realist.
Humanity and the animal world cannot coexist.
at least not yet and not in the forseeable future.
all of these animals are doomed to die and we are all the killers.
you drive a car?
guilty.

you buy food or consumer goods and have no idea where hey came from?
guilty.

You buy fish or coral collected from the wild?
guilty.

use tap water to fill your tank?
guilty.

wash your car in your driveway?
guilty

Use paper that isn't 100% recycled?
guilty.

Literally, the list goes on and on and on.

I'm guilty.
through inaction and complacency, my guilt sits on my shoulders like an iron scarf.

Our entire way of life is threatening every other living being on the planet, from trees to plankton.
I feel for this poor goat, but I feel for everything else that is dying too, just because it's happening slower and isn't pumped on CTV doesn't make it any less tragic.

I just can't believe that the death of one goat can incite such passionate, righteous banter when we may well be past our 5 minutes to resuscitate our planet already.
so please guys, if you wish you could've saved this goat, take a step back and consider the big picture and think about the struggling, kicking, doomed goat we all live on.

[rstar]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

The zoo that used to be in stanley park was a joke.
It was pure tourist attraction and has not eheld animals for years.

The vancouver zoo, in Abbottsford, is slightly better but still nowhere near as nice of a facility as the Calgary zoo.

One way or the other, animals are pretty much going to be eventually relegated to man made habitats, the ones that can adapt to such a crappy life anyways.

1 goat hangs himself?
big deal.
We are killing our entire planet a little bit faster everyday.
I'm an animal lover, but I am also a realist.
Humanity and the animal world cannot coexist.
at least not yet and not in the forseeable future.
all of these animals are doomed to die and we are all the killers.
you drive a car?
guilty.

you buy food or consumer goods and have no idea where hey came from?
guilty.

You buy fish or coral collected from the wild?
guilty.

use tap water to fill your tank?
guilty.

wash your car in your driveway?
guilty

Use paper that isn't 100% recycled?
guilty.

Literally, the list goes on and on and on.

I'm guilty.
through inaction and complacency, my guilt sits on my shoulders like an iron scarf.

Our entire way of life is threatening every other living being on the planet, from trees to plankton.
I feel for this poor goat, but I feel for everything else that is dying too, just because it's happening slower and isn't pumped on CTV doesn't make it any less tragic.

I just can't believe that the death of one goat can incite such passionate, righteous banter when we may well be past our 5 minutes to resuscitate our planet already.
so please guys, if you wish you could've saved this goat, take a step back and consider the big picture and think about the struggling, kicking, doomed goat we all live on.

Well Said!

[EmilyB]

I hope you don't deal with the whole planet worries every day. That is quite a load to take on.

Some of you haven't been around as long, but what went before me was the 60's...

I was a teenager in the 70's, Vietnam era...we figured we would all die. A friend of mine asked me to hitchhike to the bridge to ...

Well, anyway...

Don't live your life in the negative. Do what you can do. Save a can..or whatever..don't give up, save one thing.

[Scythanith]

Well said!

Originally Posted by EmilyB

I hope you don't deal with the whole planet worries every day. That is quite a load to take on.

Don't live your life in the negative. Do what you can do. Save a can..or whatever..don't give up, save one thing.

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

I hope you don't deal with the whole planet worries every day. That is quite a load to take on.

Some of you haven't been around as long, but what went before me was the 60's...

I was a teenager in the 70's, Vietnam era...we figured we would all die. A friend of mine asked me to hitchhike to the bridge to ...

Well, anyway...

Don't live your life in the negative. Do what you can do. Save a can..or whatever..don't give up, save one thing.

I would say that if any one of us did that (deal with the whole planets worries every day), we would not be reefers.
I think the point I was trying to make was more so to do with all of the concern for this goat when our whole planet could be symbolically substituted for that one goat...

You guys have global warming in the 60's or 70's?

how many animals were extinct or on the endangered species list back then?

did you have the arctic actually melting away on you?

what about the coral reefs?
were you concerned about the rising acidity of the water inhibiting coral from creating their skeletons and thus building/maintaining them?

We've got wars galore in the new millennium, I am sure you had some major events youlived through in your day, but they are all culminating now.

seems to me, you were right back then.
we ARE all going to die.

I like how you opened this post to voice your concern for this one goat and to SHUT DOWN THE CALGARY ZOO, and then suggest because I point to the bigger picture that I am living my life in the negative...

I'm more inclined to believe we have similiar views on things than anything.