Animal deaths bring zoo security concerns to light
June 30, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
No one knows whether three hours could have made a difference to the animals that died in flash flooding 11 days ago at the Lake Superior Zoo, but that’s how much time passed between the sounding of an alarm at the Polar Shores exhibit and the time zoo officials knew they had a serious problem.
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This must be the “throw everyone else under the bus” mentality. Disappointed to the responses because a panel to correct the problems not blame each other. The zoo is reopening and this is not the message to send to prospective donors, volunteers and patrons. Sad that perhaps the board and directors need to get on the same page and get this right.
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Actually, I appreciate the candor of the zoo staff interviewed and the fact that they weren’t “muzzled” by mgmt or the society to speak their mind.
I concur that there are ramifications to this but there ought to be complete transparency to the public.
Would I give to an organization that:
1. Knowingly breached security measures and;
2. Tried to cover it up?
No.
Might I give a bit of slack given the natural disaster that occurred?
Possibly but not until I heard the results of an inquiry and this is just scratching the surface of getting to the truth.
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I’m pretty sure the folks who work at the zoo are reviewing the actions and second guessing themselves more than enough. To have a bunch of ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ telling them what they did wrong is adding insult to injury. NO ONE could have seen the events that led up to this tragedy, and NO ONE should be giving zoo staff, Duluth law enforcement, or rescue staff any crap. The fact that no human life was lost in this horrific event is a miracle. MOVE ON! QUIT LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO HANG!
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Sorry, but you are wrong.
Yes it is a travesty, but the Zoo staff made every reasonable attempt to protect the lives of these animals.
Next thing you know you are going to be calling for people who’s dog was just hit by a car to be arrested for negligence.
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I saw a Chihuahua running loose in traffic in the TC’s yesterday with the owner chasing it. That was something to see alright. The dog made it across the six lanes of traffic. Unbelievable.
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Speaking for myself, I am not trying to “hang” anyone or be a Monday morning quarterback. In the last major story to run about the zoo re: drowned animals, etc, I was asking some of the readers to show some empathy. What occurred was tragic,,, I think we all agree.
However, I did question in my post if there was not an emergency evacuation plan – and if not, WHY? Any ISO company complying with best practice would have one and have done scheduled drills. To think that a zoo of all things would not have one is perfectly unconscionable.
Yes, the zoo has only got back on its feet but mgmt and the society knowingly have been treading on thin ice and has been utterly negligent and slipshod in its approach to security and the article has exposed this fact.
I did not approve of that letter from PETA believing that the flash flood was a natural disaster, an unprecedented event and the mgmt did their best to round-up the animals in the middle of the night.
However, now I’m not so sure how I feel until answers are given to these questions:
How could Mr Pruitt not know if the police had or hadn’t a key to the zoo?
Why was the upper end of the creek not secured from trespassers (throwing missiles at animals) and vulnerable to animals escaping the zoo altogether?
Those two things were known well before the flash flood.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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In a way this flood might be a godsend for the polar bear. At least now people are aware of the environmant she was living in.
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Isn’t it awesome that hindsight is 20/20? Whatever would we do without it?
Personally, while I’m sad that animals were lost in a freak flood, I’m really grateful that in the middle of the night, in pitch black, with torrential rains and flooding, people were out there looking for the polar bear.
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How many nights was that polar bear tormented by people that snuck into the zoo? She was in the care of the taxpayers of Duluth. You and your fellow Duluthians let her down long before the flood.
I was going to give your community a pass on this until I read about the hoodlums mistreating animals and the fact that the zoo administration was aware of it. If you couldn’t afford to properly care for these animals you should have never had them in the first place.
This isn’t about hindsight. It’s about common sense.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I am a Duluthian by birth, not by residence.
I have to admit, I wasn’t aware of people getting into the zoo after hours either.
My “hindsight” comment was about the Flood though, not the mistreatment of animals at any other time.
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Thank you for clarifying that to me. It was a pleasure speaking with you.
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After volunteering at the Zoo and working on the barn, scrubbing it all down. It was painfully obvious that it wqas possible for the barn animals to survive. Especially if the free range peacocks survived.
In the barn there are 4 doors and one main door for the animals. 10 seconds could have been taken to just leave the doors open and maybe the animals could have reached high ground just like the peacocks.
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If you’ve read the “timeline”, zoo officials didn’t even get to the zoo till the polar bear and seals where already out due to the flooding, If their habitat was already underwater enough to allow them to escape, it’s a pretty fair bet the barnyard animals were already gone by then.
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So many experts and not a single one of you was at the zoo that night putting your expert plan into action to save the poor animals. And none of you were there earlier in the day to warn the zoo staff about what was coming and what they should do to keep the animals safe. How can you live with yourselves?
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Dan you are absolutely right. How dare all of us experts that are not employed by the zoo, have no access to the zoo, and have no ability to remove these animals not be down there. Man we should be ashamed of ourselves for not acting on what we are all thinking. Wake up. It is not in our power to have saved these animals, but if non zoo employees are questioning the actions of the zoo team and realized what should be done, then ideally the experts should have already been aware of the possible situation.
This looks to me like everyone is trying to shove off the blame here!
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