Georgia's Aquarium KILLS AGAIN

[MAXFACTOR]

Last week you may have heard that one of the WHALE SHARKS DIED "for no apparent reason." 

What a CROCK OF CRAP O LA.....



Whale shark necropsy shows no 'obvious' cause of death

OK   FOLKS…. This one isn’t that hard to figure out even for me. 
Although you have the largest salt water aquarium in the world,   OH…  you say its 8,000,000 million gallons…. wow….  that’s a lot of water.  But,…  have you ever wondered why these incredible sea animals swim the world.   
Lets do some calculations..   Supposedly the earth has 328, 000, 000 cubic miles of salt water.   EVEN IF…  you had 2 cubic miles of sea water, which is more then you have (each cubic mile of sea water is approximately (5280)3 cubic feet of water. or double that to  (10,560)3 cubic you still couldn’t possibly ever  replenish the food and nutrients in the water fast enough to support 1 much less 4 whale sharks. 
I knew when I heard the aquarium was going to include them, it was going to be a mistake.  I only wish I was more vocal about it at the time.
How many more of god’s creatures are going to die there before you realize that creatures of that size with millions of years of  evolution cannot be contained, sustained, or even logistically captured and  fed appropriately. 

These sharks don't stay in one place for long, they continually swim the oceans filtering out the plankton from the waters.  If they stayed in the same spot ie 8,000,000 gallons of water, they would exhaust the nutrients in no time flat.

If they find the whale sharks did not die of starvation, which they probably did, they probably died of   “as they say in the Mel Brooks movies”   HIGH ANXIETY..   STRESS,  and  NO REASON TO LIVE.

I can reasonably predict that there will be 3 more major deaths at that Aquarium within the next two years. 

Lets start a write in campaign   call it
ATLANTA 
LET YOUR  BIG FISH
GO HOME.

maxfactor

[scott1611]

I was actually there last May and loved it.  I know they fed the whale sharks at least twice a day (you could watch them feed twice).

The tank is setup to house 6 fully grown whale sharks, and is a tad (30,000 cubic meters of water) larger than the one in Japan (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at 7,500 cubic meters of water) that is the next largest aquarium that keeps whale sharks.  It could be that GAI is new to this game, as the one in Japan has had one in captivity for over 10 years.  But the article I did find on that aquarium does mention it has had mixed results too...from 3 days to that 10 years for survival rates. 

As for Gasper (the beluga whale), if I remember correctly that whale and one other came from an amusement park in Mexico and had some health problems due to the conditions in Mexico.  They got some other whales from New York too.

Anyways, it's sad to see either of them die.  For Gasper, he had better conditions at GAI than before.  And as for the whale sharks...I don't know, it seems Japan has been able to have some live for quite a while in a much smaller tank.

Time will tell....

[MAXFACTOR]

Hi Scott,

Not to be argumentative, but there is a BIG DIFFERENCE... in quality of the sea water.  In Japan they are pumping in sea water from the sea,  in Atlanta, they are not.  They are also actively feeding the Whale Sharks in Japan.

Whale sharks in the ocean don't eat twice a day, "They eat all day."

maxfactor

[scott1611]

Hey maxfactor,

No prob, and you do have a really good point with the sea water vs the salt mix (they use Instant Ocean...just like what anyone can buy in the fish store).  And the feeding in Japan, I really don't know if Atlanta is feeding more than twice a day.  I'm sure that the sea water that the Japan aquarium brings in has other live food in it, where mixing your own salt won't have that.

One can only hope that they learn from this and it doesn't repeat, as I doubt they will give up the whale sharks.

[Shooter]

Anyone ever eat whale shark? ???  >

;D  ;D Just Kidding !   ;D  ;D

I was just messing with the p.c. crowd  >

I would have to be really hungry to eat one of those :-X :o

[tullibee]

of the Sea!  ;D

(but really, it is sad they are keeping these wonderful creatures confined like this -- I can "almost" accept the Japan location with the true seawater circulation...)  zoos and aquariums are beneficial in that they do provide a way for the masses to be introduced to parts of nature they likely would never see otherwise, but for critters such as whalesharks and humpbacks and such that are large and normally free-roaming I think that having video and either replicas or taxidermy are a more sensible approach.

[scott1611]

I can't remember exactly where Atlanta got their whale sharks, but I know they were in the local fishing nets (of what island I don't remember).  But if I remember correctly...it was mentioned that typically whatever they catch they eat.  But they didn't because someone there knew that the Atlanta aquarium was looking for whale sharks.

Was in one of those video's you can pick up at the gift store....was by a news station down there that covered the story of the aquarium from idea to opening day.

[MAXFACTOR]

OK Scotty and Tullibee.  Thanks for your thoughts about the above WHALE SHARKS.    as for SHOOTER,,,  eat this...  lol
Tullibee..... its interesting to me that you choose the words you  did.

Interesting to me because I was just thinking about the incredible creatures on display at the various museums.  Take for example the DINOSAUR’s.  We don’t have video of them walking the world.  But we can  guess how they did with some reasonably level of accuracy.  BUT THEN LETS LOOK at what the “zoo’s have done with the  Polar Bears. Ask yourself have you ever seen one that’s happy at the zoo.  They are usually pacing back in forth like I’i've done many times when I’vie had too much  coffee, or when I’m thinking about  getting..  …… with the wife.  Its crazy behavior.  BUT WHAT IF WE HAD A CHANCE TO REALLY SEE ONE ALIVE Wouldn't it be incredible.

But what is really crazy and insane behavior is that man thinks he can safely keep an animal in a tank, that almost ever day of his life in the wild dives down to about 3000 feet for a snack.

Above are some links and suggested readings about the fabulous acts of man. 

How much is a hippopotamus worth..  OH,  only about $50.00 to the guy who kills one.

Check that link out.

WHALE SHARKS,  HIPPOPOTAMUS and POLAR BEARS LIKELY TO BE EXTINCT IN OUR CHILDREN'S LIFE TIME.  Here here for putting them on display and slowly killing them so we can watch them swim for a half an hour.

We know so little about Whale Sharks  that Up until 1996 biologists and researchers believed that WHALE SHARKS gave birth through the laying of eggs.  That’s how much or should I really say HOW LITTLE we know about them.  The reason we know so little of them is because there are so few of them. 






click link below


By The Associated Press

posted: 13 September 2005
11:54 am ET

ONLY 887 Hippo’s left in the CONGO.  They will be extinct in the Congo soon.

FULL STORY FROM ABOVE click link



SO HOW SICK IS THAT BEHAVIOR.......  Let the largest fish in the ocean swim in the ocean, not a glass tank.
Please take the time to hit some of the links, and let me know what you think. 

MAN CANNOT MANAGE THE HIPPO, THE POLAR BEAR, and Certainly NOT THE  WHALE SHARK.  TAKE THE CHALLENGE    CONNECT THE DOTS..    or as  DEEP THROAT SAID TO BERSTEIN.... "FOLLOW THE MONEY"
maxfactor

[DiverQueen]

Yes, another one died...06-13-07 Norton R.I.P.

[MAXFACTOR]

Thanks DQ to alerting all of us to the loss.  Here is the actually story, because I have found that sometimes the links die off from existance to:    BUT I DO HAVE A QUESTION....    if they think it was the chemical they used to clean the tanks with......  ahhhhh    why  didn't the other 4 animals get sick too.    Me thinks its a combinations of  not enough food, no deep diving, and obviously  CONFINEMENT. 

MAXFACTOR

HERES THE STORY....

Second whale shark in a year dies at Georgia Aquarium
By Daniel Yee, Associated Press

Last update: June 13, 2007 – 9:06 PM

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ATLANTA - Another whale shark died Wednesday at the Georgia Aquarium, the second this year at the only facility outside Asia to display the huge, rare fish.
Aquarium officials said identifying the cause of Norton's death could take months. A necropsy was planned.

Just two weeks ago, two young male sharks arrived from Taiwan, and fishery officials there said at that time they were satisfied the Georgia aquarium provided good-quality care.

In January, Ralph, a whale shark who was one of the aquarium's first stars when it opened in 2005, died from peritonitis, an infection in his abdomen.

Aquarium officials said Wednesday that Norton had stopped eating in recent months and swam erratically. Early Wednesday, he settled to the bottom of the aquarium's centerpiece Ocean Voyager tank.

He was euthanized after his health didn't improve. Norton's death would be investigated for any possible link to Ralph's death, aquarium officials said.

Ralph had stomach problems that inflamed a membrane in his abdomen, but the aquarium has also said a chemical used in cleaning the sharks' tank may have contributed to Ralph's loss of appetite. The tank-cleaning routine has since been changed.

Ray Davis, the aquarium's senior vice president of zoological operations, said the remaining four whale sharks were doing fine.

Many visitors Wednesday had just learned of Norton's death, including Christine Obijeski, who brought her 3-year-old daughter, Kristen, and her 4-year-old nephew, Richard Poelvoorde.

"I told them Norton had died, and they asked me why," Obijeski said. "They said he might have been sad because Ralph wasn't here."

The new arrivals, Yushan and Taroko, and female whale sharks Alice and Trixie share a 6-million-gallon tank. The rare species can grow up to 40 feet long, but the aquarium says the tank is big enough for them.