Calgary Zoo takes blame for dead stingrays

2009-02-09

Michael Platt, Calgary Sun

When it comes to the truth, George Washington and his hatchet-hacked cherry tree have nothing on this president. Indeed, while the future U.S. leader found himself unable to tell a lie when confronted, the Calgary Zoo's president doesn't need an invitation to confess -- Clement Lanthier believes in volunteering the truth, even when it hurts.

Take the rays. You remember the 41 cownose stingrays which died in mysterious circumstances last May, effectively closing the zoo's first-ever hands-on exhibit?

Amid sinister theories of poison and sabotage, months of investigation failed to produce an answer -- autopsies and countless tests of the water and equipment came up empty.

And there it ended -- or it would have, if Clement Lanthier wasn't such a truthful fellow.

In a move to make public relations advisors cringe, Lanthier not only admits that the Calgary Zoo almost certainly knows why the rays died, he also admits that it had nothing to do with sabotage, and everything to do with human error.

Lanthier cannot tell a lie, and the truth is, the zoo messed up. "The answer is 99.9% sure, we believe the dissolved oxygen was too low -- the life-support system was not designed to provide enough dissolved oxygen," said Lanthier.

Speaking of hatchets, the animal-rights lobby will certainly be sharpening theirs as Lanthier continues to divulge, admitting the Calgary Zoo's lack of experience with fish contributed to the deaths.

"We didn't have any expertise in aquarium and fish, so we partnered with a reputable designer of life-support systems, one that came with a recommendation, and that's what we implemented," said Lanthier.

While the system seemed fine for the first few months, Lanthier said the oxygen wasn't keeping up -- and when staff tried to save the rays, they altered the evidence.

Keepers rushed to move the rays to another tank when the first signs of distress were noted, and in disturbing the water, they mixed in enough oxygen to make tests useless.

"It was like CSI," said Lanthier. "The water was normal -- the centre tested it for two or three hundred elements, and nothing.

"So we sat around months later and said what really happened that day, and then we said, when was that water sample collected? And that was it."

Experts on ray health confirmed that the zoo's theory of low oxygen could easily account for the blotchy appearance and sudden deaths -- and Lanthier says he's sure that's the answer.

But why share it? Why not leave the public in the dark, and keep another critical axe out of the hands of those who would cut the zoo down for mishaps which send animals to the mortuary?

In recent weeks, the zoo has issued a press release about a wild goat which died when it became entangled in a toy, and admitted to another ray dying of natural causes.

Lanthier is a veterinarian, and it's with scientific logic the zoo boss explains his philosophy of transparency.

"We are very open with what is going on at the zoo and that's my policy and the policy of the institution," said Lanthier.

"We have to understand that we are handling biological material -- people are expecting that because they are under our care, animals will live forever, but animals slip on the ice, animals fight, they get sick.

"This is part of the very tough educational message that must come from zoos, that animals don't live forever -- and this is why we need to protect those animals and why we are involved in breeding programs."

Again, it's with damn-the-critics honesty that Lanthier goes on to say the zoo will continue with elephant breeding, despite the outcry that followed the virus-related death of year-old Malti in November.

"Yes, we will continue," said Lanthier, adding that even if another Calgary calf dies of the virus, the zoo needs to learn about the fatal disease in order to protect wild elephants.

"We have to learn more about the epidemiology of this virus -- I'm not saying there will be no risk to the next calf, but not managing the risk may put the wild population in danger," he said.

"We need to learn as much as possible."