Sad News from the Calgary Zoo

[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.

[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.