Dead New Orleans/Gulfport Zoo + Aquarium Animals
 

The HUMAN suffering is horrible in all the states that have been affected by this tragedy. That being said......

Call me a tree hugger if you must, but I feel just as bad for all the gorillas, giraffes, wild cats, sea lions, birds (the list goes on and on) who did not make it out alive. Can you imagine the terror they went through?? They probably "sensed" it was coming and couldn't do anything about it. Many of them are lying dead in their cages and on the streets (I saw pictures, not pretty). So many lost souls. http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/1346.gif The zoo staff did the best they could to try to save many of them before the hurricane hit (many were shipped to other zoos in the US -the zoo community is a very tight knit community), but the majority did not make it out.

Probably sounds weird -- but I lit a candle for all their souls last night because it seems they have been forgotten in this tragedy.

Tree Hugger.

But really, that is terrible.

I feel the same way. The horror that these animals must have gone through when they were trapped in cages and drowning is too much for me to think about. I don't cry easily, but thinking about the people and animals who suffered and continue to suffer makes me sob.

It is incredibly heartbreaking to think of their suffering. More ammunition for the argument that zoos are not the place for animals.

well...
 

There was a time when I agreed with that statement. But now I don't. Zoo quality has gone up a lot in the last 2 decades. There are very few "bad" zoos in the US anymore.

I took a private tour of the Gorilla Exhibit with Jane Goodall at Busch Gardens several years ago. I asked her how she felt about them being "caged" and she told me that "programs like this are necessary for the protection of the species". She said "it was obvious that these animals are very happy, well cared for and loved. These programs are extremely helpful in education and the breeding of rare/endangered animals".

I was not going to argue with Jane Goodall. Instead, I listened to what she said and walked away from the experience with a different perpspective and attitude.

I was just wondering what happened to these animals last night.Just another heartbreaking thing to add to all of this.

Heartbreaking. :distress:

I've been heartbroken about the animals ever since I realized Katrina was going to affect the New Orleans and Biloxi areas. Obviously, there's a zoo and an aquarium in New Orleans and Biloxi also has the Marine Education Center (an aquarium) and Marine Life, which has dolphins, sea lions, and birds. The dolphins at Marine Life are the ones that were put in some pools in hotels. I'm hoping those hotels are okay. :shrug:

I'm thinking about this one old channel catfish I know well who used to live (I guess that would be past tense now) at the Marine Education Center in Biloxi. He was SO very old and very majestic to me. I wonder about him and all the others.

So, I definitely relate to your tree hugger stance.

Thank you for sharing that, the animals down at Busch Gardens do seem very happy, especially those tigers! I'm so sad for the animals at that zoo and the suffering they went through.

Unfortunately...
 

it doesnt take me much to cry nowadays (2005 is officially the worse year ever I have lived through, And it is only Sept.)...

I know, I'm pathetic.

I know Brian
 

I saw a picture of a deep sea aquarium (I believe it was in Biloxi) and there was just nothing left.
It's not just people affected by disasters like this.

Not pathetic at all... :xoxo:

....I think so many people are feeling the same way you do. We have never seen such devastation on US soil in our lifetimes.

2 states coastal regions wiped out in under 12 hours. Unreal. :shocked:

I've been trying not to think about it because that's what makes me saddest of all. The fact that they were trapped b/c they were in cages makes me sick. As an "animal hugger" - I really can't think about it. It's too much.

Not at all.