Sad News from the Calgary Zoo

[Geofrog]

Just read this in the Clgary Herald:

Stingray deaths stun Calgary Zoo
Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary Herald
Published: Monday, May 12, 2008
CALGARY - Dozens of stringrays have mysteriously and suddenly died, closing the Calgary Zoo's new exhibit.

Thirty-four stingrays have died in total. Twenty-six were found dead Sunday and this morning, eight more died. Only nine remain, according to zoo officials.

The cause of death is unknown.

Staff noticed Sunday around 1 p.m. that the stingrays had lost their appetite and started changing colour - a reaction to stress. Half a dozen staff members began trying to revive the flagging stingrays but 26 died between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.

The remaining stingrays are being monitored. Staff are puzzled by the sudden and mysterious demise of the creatures.

The cownose stingray exhibit opened in February.

"What we do know is that there was no mechanical failure in the life support system," said Cathy Gaviller, the zoo's director of conservation, research and education.

"We know that all of the numerous water tests conducted on a daily basis since the exhibit opened have been consistently within normal range," she said. "We will be relentless in investigating the cause."

The exhibit is closed.

[Delphinus]

I just heard this as well. Terrible, just terrible. :(

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080512.wcalgary_zoo0512/BNStory/National/home

[Brent F]

Quite the shock :(
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080512.wcalgary_zoo0512/BNStory/National/home

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jc8IA08emrx-icwUR66FJpTAE7fw

[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....

[langdon reefer]

i saw that on the news over the weekend im sure we will see it on the news tonight about the rays

[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:sad:

[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.:cry:

[michika]

I'm guessing its something that they don't routinely test for; hand cream on someone's hands, acetone from freshly cleaned nails, etc.

[justinl]

Man that seriously sucks.

I doubt it was trace amounts of hand cream or something like that. I would imagine that the system is pretty big and if it was something foreign and added deliberately, it would have to be a fairly significant amount to cause that kind of effect. That said, I know it isnt hard to sabotage a public aquarium. Security isn't generally a main focus. and to compound the problem, think about how many people visit the place every day. trying to figure out who did it, if that were the case, would be near impossible unless they have video surveillance over the tank (hopefully they do).

[Jeff_]

This is quite sad indeed. It will be interesting however to find out what could cause such a catastrophic event, there is a possibility that it was something from someone hands but i really have no idea what could possibly even deal such damage. Im leaning towards deliberate sabotage too but what was used is really the question.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I think that someone's hands would need to be covered in weapons-grade plutonium to cause such a severe reaction. No, if I can put my hands into my tank on accident after applying hand cream (oops!...only once...or twice....), I think the huge water volume of the stingray tank could withstand it.

It could even be something like...the grass outside the building was sprayed with fertilizer or weed killer. Who knows, right?

Either way, it's a great shame. I loved seeing the little beauties glide gracefully through the water, and they surely didn't deserve this.

[michika]

FYI the hand cream reference was just an example...I'm not saying hand cream could do it, I'm just saying that its very plausible that it could have been something that got into the tank, and isn't something they can or do routinely test for.

[ElGuappo]

i was going to ask if you could touchthe glass. this could be an issue. maybe a school field trip with 100 kids pouning on the glass for half an hour. who knows. but yes a PR nightmare.

[Reefhawk1]

The problem these days is you can't trust people. A toxin was probably introduced into the water causing a catastrophic loss of life. Sad day at the zoo for sure.

[Patrick1]

I support the zoo and attend it alot. I live close by and have a year round pass. I took some time when they first started, and spoke with the guy who was (running things??). I had some questions just as a normal visitor, not trying to be a salt water smart ***. I figured he would have some amazing knowlege and some really kick *** technical background. I was a little rattled at how little he knew beyond what was posted on the wall. After that I had a great deal of concern about those rays.

They kept telling people to keep their hands out of the water and, only a few people who were with zoo staff could touch the rays. Anyone else who has been there on a busy day can agree that there might have been like 5 people out of 400 that didn't have their hands in the water. I know lots of people who keep rays and they keep their hands out of the tank. I know it's easy to point out faults but, for the people running the zoo after the last big mess up. You would think that they would have put more thought into this one.

[Ephraim]

putting alot thought into projects at the Calgary Zoo is not thier forte

[kwirky]

"oh i want a hippopotamus for christmas"

The baby hippo died after that old media campaign spun down, in case anyone would like to know. Telus's commercial was kinda morbid I think actually lol. When I saw the ad for a "stingray touch tank" at the c-train station I knew there were some nasties going on and eventually something would happen. First off they file off the stingers of the rays. I'm sure some people'd question whether that's humane. And then you've got hundreds of hands in the water; if all those introduced chemicals aren't a recipe for disaster I don't know what is.

I'm singling it out as a marketing gimick to get people going to the zoo. Unfortunately it was at the cost of the animals. I dislike PETA but I think the zoo crossed a line in order to collect more entrance fees :sad:

[Treebeard]

I have a hunch that the zoo was unprepared and uneducated to handle such an exhibit. San Diego Sea World has had an interactive California Bat Ray exhibit for years and I have never heard of any disasters of this magnitude occurring there. The ray tank was one of my favorite exhibits at Sea World, and yes, you could touch them.

The Calgary zoo has been getting far too much bad publicity recently and they have some some serous issues to resolve. I am not impressed!

[ElGuappo]

sounds to me lke the guy running the tank had insufficent knowledge for the job. there is absolutly no reason not to have a marine biologist in there for some thing that is this costly already.(pre Deaths)

[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??

[Delphinus]

Might be wrong but I thought I heard on the news this morning that they had ruled out sabotage. Thing is yesterday they were saying they had ruled out equipment failure.

So many deaths in such a short timeframe though, doesn't "just happen." There's an explanation for this ... whether they find out what it is or whether they come clean with their findings remains to be seen.

Other public aquariums have similar exhibits, although in hindsight I seem to recall that the ones I have seen have been larger with maybe half as many individuals. But you'd think they'd look to other SUCCESSFUL tanks in other public aquariums and try to model after those...

Guess I'm now inclined to agree with Mark that this was just another poorly thought out folly. I had assumed they would hire an experienced aquarist from another public facility but it seems that they were just learning it as they go. (I was astounded at how they transported the Hippopotamus and they reacted with surprise when she died. I was hoping the rays exhibit was not another one like this, but I see I was wrong. :( You put some measure of faith into the professionals to know how to do their jobs, or to at least put some legitimate research into things first ....)

Death count is now 35, they lost one of the remaining 8 this morning. What a terrible tragedy. :(

[Ephraim]

That many animals do not die that close together in time frame due to disease, especially after being acclimated. The only thing that will kill that many fish that quickly is something environmental. With the volume of water in that exhibit i find it very unlikely that something accientally put into the systems via someones hands caused the death. The zoo PR is lying, it either was an equipment failure of some sort, or something wrong with the water that could be tested for whether that be salinity, ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite.

[Delphinus]

Exactly what I was thinking. You just don't have that kind of mortality without an explanation. Whether we ever hear the whole story remains to be seen, I highly doubt it, there's a probably a spin machine at work now.

[Ephraim]

with a ceo that refers to the animals as "display units" you cant really expect much more.

[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.

[i have crabs]

visitor tampering was ruled out today.

[Matt]

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. Hippo did die (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/10/29/dead-hippo.html?ref=rss).

I've seen touch tanks in a few locations, and I'm always amazed by the idea... How can you possibly make it safe for the animals (and in some cases, the guests)? Up close and interactive with wildlife (stand there, baby, while mommy gets a picture of you with the elk)... it's a disneyfied world, folks. Everything is a cartoon.

[Brent F]

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.

[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.

[Darth Wader]

I just read that 4 more died last night and now there are only 4 left. Holy smokes, I cant believe that 39 rays have died, that has go to be some kind of toxin in the water. However on a good note, they are asking for the Calgary police to step in and help, that should help solve the case..... Hahaha, like the Calgary police solve crimes.

[Brent F]

I think you are right - this story will be forgotten by the media before the toxicology results are available. The findings won't be news in 2 months

[Darth Wader]

Yea totally. People will have forgot all about it when the results come.

[Treebeard]

Although the Calgary Zoo has had some "bad luck" recently, it doesn't seem fair to be charging, trialling and convicting them all at once. It is possible that this was a deliberate attack.

[Brent F]

visitor tampering was ruled out today.

Latest story is poisoning suspected
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=515110
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=30b01410-00ac-48a4-8342-85ad833be39e

[Darth Wader]

If it was poisoning that’s some really messed up stuff for a person to do. I mean honestly how crazy of a person would you have to be to poison stingrays in the zoo? I'm not saying its not a possibility I'm just saying thats a really crazy thing for a person to do. However having said that, dragging a dog behind a vehicle is messed up and we all heard about that happening so I wouldn’t put it passed some of the messed up people out there.

[Delphinus]

Some animal activist wishing to discredit the zoo?

Some (severely misguided) miscreant taking "revenge" on rays for Steve Irwin's death?

Pranksters with no regard for the life and/or well being of an animal?

Who can even guess what some people are thinking? It's sickening to me but I think it's a real possibility that can't be ignored. There's just not that many things that would have such a devastating impact so quickly. Something got into the water ... accidentally or deliberately.

The saddest part is that if it WAS deliberate, short of someone coming forward with information, we might never know who or why.

[i have crabs]

[QUOTE=Matt;324113]Hippo did die (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/10/29/dead-hippo.html?ref=rss).

wrong hippo
the adult from denver did die wich was no involvment of the calgary zoo the baby hippo was from the granby zoo and is back thier now
http://www.zoodegranby.com/en/visite_vedettes.htm#polita

[dsaundry]

I would think that this is the result of a really sick person{if poison is determined} I know it can happen but it would have take a major collapse of the system for it to have had this type of effect...my guess is poison..:sad:

[staffordreef]

Maybe it's best if it does just blow over. It is tragic about the rays; but in context how many fish, coral and invertebrates die in Calgary each day in the pet stores and in peoples homes due to neglect, untreated diesease, water quality issues, poorly designed systems....? It's like the ducks in Northern Alberta - people are quick to rally against the oil industry yet everyday 100,000's of birds are killed by cats and I don't see any movement to eliminate them. Every day there are threads on this website from people whose tanks have collapsed, who can't keep certain corals alive yet still keep trying, who try and keep fish in tanks that are too small and we all give them advice and wish em better luck next time. If the public decides that ultimately wild animals should be left there because people can't take care of them then we all better start looking for a new hobby. Those who own glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

My 2 cents.

[dsaundry]

Maybe it's best if it does just blow over. It is tragic about the rays; but in context how many fish, coral and invertebrates die in Calgary each day in the pet stores and in peoples homes due to neglect, untreated diesease, water quality issues, poorly designed systems....? It's like the ducks in Northern Alberta - people are quick to rally against the oil industry yet everyday 100,000's of birds are killed by cats and I don't see any movement to eliminate them. Every day there are threads on this website from people whose tanks have collapsed, who can't keep certain corals alive yet still keep trying, who try and keep fish in tanks that are too small and we all give them advice and wish em better luck next time. If the public decides that ultimately wild animals should be left there because people can't take care of them then we all better start looking for a new hobby. Those who own glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

My 2 cents.


Not sure I agree with that completely. If it is a result of a deliberate action I think it is deplorable of the guilty party and they should be punished. as for regular actions of nature,Eg, a cat killing a bird etc, thats a normal instinctive action of an animal. As for the oil industry, sure I would love to see them pay but being realistic I know it probably won't happen, just keep watching our fuel prices going up and maybe one day the general public will say "ENOUGH". Until that time comes you might as well get used to it..I agree some people shouldn't keep tanks or any pets for that matter, however sadly it usually takes some deplorable action for any action to be taken. But yes there are those in the aquarium industry argueably shouldn't be but some of the people that are new are going to make mistakes, thats why there are forums to help them understand where they went wrong. Its the people that make the same mistakes over and over again that should find a good book to read and stay out of the aquarium biz. As quoted by a much smarter person than me.."Those that do not learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them" Everybody must start from the beginning and with time and knowledge they achieve some of the beautiful tanks you see on the various web sites. It also brings a love and understanding of what nature offers us in the wild, as evidenced by some of the great dive pictures members send in. So to summarize I agree that some people shouldn't be allowed to have pets of any kind, I disagree that it should just blow over. A reason for it must be determined, whether its poisoning or a fault with the zoo's system.....my 2cents

[i have crabs]

i herd a someone from the zoo today on the radio and it seems like they have no clue what happened wich i guess isnt news but when asked if they had any staff with experience or expertice on keeping rays or animals like them the zoo guy completly dodged the question wich seemed like they have no qualified person to me wich is a little unresponsible if true, hope its not.
i do wish we could see what type of equipment is used 40 something rays seems like way to many i seen the tank with 18 and thought that was enough, i also wonder what tests they do and how they test them

[spikehs]

perhaps it was a cumulative thing and it reached a "critical mass" so to speak? If something was spreading through the water at some sort of exponential rate, the system could have been able to handle the load until it doubled again (or whatever) where it was suddenly too much for the rays to take?