Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Losing Nemo
Erin and I had an unusual experience when we returned to the zoo after our initial 
“behind the scenes” visit. Having learned the in’s and out’s of the aquarium, now we listened on a hospital visit.
We met Thomas at 11 a.m. in front of the reception office. She was pulling a white cooler and opened it to introduce us to the patient: a black bowfin fish.
We followed her into the zoo’s hospital area, met Tiffany Moore, associate veterinarian, and went into the immaculate hospital room where the fish was going to be poked and prodded. We learned that zoo aquarists had been tube-feeding this fish for some time, and had recently noticed some scrapes on his back fins, which prompted the hospital trip.
It was amazing how careful Thomas and Moore were with this non-exotic, finned fellow, a native of Lake Murray. They sprinkled anesthesia into his tank, and when they were positive he was soundly asleep, Thomas gently placed him on a cushion on top of the tank. They then put a tube in his mouth for oxygen. It was like watching a doctor examine a premature baby. No precautions were left undone.
The plan was to run a few tests and decide what treatment was needed. Yes, that’s what we were told at the beginning. They were going to save the fish.
I went into the hospital room expecting to witness a happy rescue story. However, I was heartbroken when, after an initial look, Moore decided that the bowfin was probably too old to survive any kind of surgery. She decided euthanasia was the best option. The fish they had just treated like a king, was now going to be put down.
Because our new friend wasn’t going to undergo any kind of treatment, Moore decided to use the opportunity as a learning experience. As she took two rather large tubes of blood, she made sure to tell us that normally that amount wouldn’t be taken from such a small creature. I later found out that my partner was trying her best not to pass out during this procedure. Looking back, it was rather odd that Erin kept bending down to “tie her shoes.”
Next, an X-ray was taken to see if there was anything unusual going on inside the finned patient. While we were in looking at the X-ray, Moore told us that normally they wouldn’t leave the fish alone on the table. But since he obviously wasn’t going to make it, she was willing to leave him for just a second.
After seeing nothing with an ultrasound, they decided the time had come. Standing around the tank with solemn expressions, the assistant veterinarian shook euthanasia powder on top of the fish, who was now back in the water.
And with that, our new friend was gone.
We met Thomas at 11 a.m. in front of the reception office. She was pulling a white cooler and opened it to introduce us to the patient: a black bowfin fish.
We followed her into the zoo’s hospital area, met Tiffany Moore, associate veterinarian, and went into the immaculate hospital room where the fish was going to be poked and prodded. We learned that zoo aquarists had been tube-feeding this fish for some time, and had recently noticed some scrapes on his back fins, which prompted the hospital trip.
It was amazing how careful Thomas and Moore were with this non-exotic, finned fellow, a native of Lake Murray. They sprinkled anesthesia into his tank, and when they were positive he was soundly asleep, Thomas gently placed him on a cushion on top of the tank. They then put a tube in his mouth for oxygen. It was like watching a doctor examine a premature baby. No precautions were left undone.
The plan was to run a few tests and decide what treatment was needed. Yes, that’s what we were told at the beginning. They were going to save the fish.
I went into the hospital room expecting to witness a happy rescue story. However, I was heartbroken when, after an initial look, Moore decided that the bowfin was probably too old to survive any kind of surgery. She decided euthanasia was the best option. The fish they had just treated like a king, was now going to be put down.
Because our new friend wasn’t going to undergo any kind of treatment, Moore decided to use the opportunity as a learning experience. As she took two rather large tubes of blood, she made sure to tell us that normally that amount wouldn’t be taken from such a small creature. I later found out that my partner was trying her best not to pass out during this procedure. Looking back, it was rather odd that Erin kept bending down to “tie her shoes.”
Next, an X-ray was taken to see if there was anything unusual going on inside the finned patient. While we were in looking at the X-ray, Moore told us that normally they wouldn’t leave the fish alone on the table. But since he obviously wasn’t going to make it, she was willing to leave him for just a second.
After seeing nothing with an ultrasound, they decided the time had come. Standing around the tank with solemn expressions, the assistant veterinarian shook euthanasia powder on top of the fish, who was now back in the water.
And with that, our new friend was gone.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
In over our heads
Learning that we do our multimedia narrative on anything, Kati and I quickly concurred: Let’s go play at the zoo.
After scheduling our visit we anticipated where we might end up: Koalas, elephants, lions, tigers, bears.
And then we got our assignment…….fish.
We were headed to the aquarium, and neither of us knew anything about fish.
We met outside the zoo just before 9 a.m. on a sunny Saturday. The parking lot was already beginning to fill up with families visiting over the Memorial Day holiday. We introduced ourselves to the receptionist. Then we set off on our first adventure: finding the aquarium.
We walked along the winding paths until we reached our location. We were greeted by Lindsay Thomas, a senior aquarist. Dressed in khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt she welcomed us. We followed her inside and she introduced us to two women sitting in front of a large display. She explained that they worked with reptiles, which share space with the aquarium.
We followed Thomas into a dark, winding area filled with tanks. Loud music filled the adjoining rooms. My initial thought: how are we going to record any audio?
Thomas was very informative as she went about her morning routine. Wearing blue Crocs and a white coral necklace, she climbed a ladder to the tanks’ tops. Using a magnet on the outside of the tank she cleaned the inside of the glass with an acrylic pad and a diaper.
“You can tell how busy we were the day before by the smudges on the outside of the tanks,” she said.
I had never really thought about what goes on behind the scenes, but we were about to find out.
We passed a large tank with loud, swishing water. She explained that the zoo made its own salt water in the tank, and also had equipment to heat and cool water.
(trim extra words below) We learned that the failure of a cooling system had caused the temperature of a tank to rise too quickly a night earlier that week and had resulted in the death of the zoo’s lone octopus.
She led us into a back room that looked like a kitchen prep area. Thomas pointed out krill, Missouri gel and shrimp as some of the day’s delicacies.
Kati jumped back suddenly pointing to a loud barrel of live crickets.
“Those are for the reptiles,” Thomas said, explaining that this area was also shared with the other department. And we laughed thinking it would have been silly for us to have thought fish were responsible for eating live crickets.
Next, Thomas showed us around the upper level where we had a chance to look down into the tanks. She explained that dives occur twice a day where a staff of volunteers and workers cleans the tanks and feeds their residents. The 55,000 gallon tank features Indopacific life and contains artificial coral that divers clean in rotation. She said a funny dive memory was being followed around by a shark that likes to bite the backs of the booties that divers wear.
At the top of the facility we also saw different quarantine tanks where fish are kept for a variety of reasons. Some are separated because they are new and must be parasite free before they can enter tanks with other fish. Others, like a fish we later accompanied on a medical visit, are quarantined because of scrapes or sickness. She brought us to the other side where we looked down into another tank.
Suddenly we could hear splashing.
“Jumping sharks,” she explained. “We call them Harry and Lloyd, affectionately ‘Dumb and Dumber’.”
Who knew sharks could jump?!
After scheduling our visit we anticipated where we might end up: Koalas, elephants, lions, tigers, bears.
And then we got our assignment…….fish.
We were headed to the aquarium, and neither of us knew anything about fish.
We met outside the zoo just before 9 a.m. on a sunny Saturday. The parking lot was already beginning to fill up with families visiting over the Memorial Day holiday. We introduced ourselves to the receptionist. Then we set off on our first adventure: finding the aquarium.
We walked along the winding paths until we reached our location. We were greeted by Lindsay Thomas, a senior aquarist. Dressed in khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt she welcomed us. We followed her inside and she introduced us to two women sitting in front of a large display. She explained that they worked with reptiles, which share space with the aquarium.
We followed Thomas into a dark, winding area filled with tanks. Loud music filled the adjoining rooms. My initial thought: how are we going to record any audio?
Thomas was very informative as she went about her morning routine. Wearing blue Crocs and a white coral necklace, she climbed a ladder to the tanks’ tops. Using a magnet on the outside of the tank she cleaned the inside of the glass with an acrylic pad and a diaper.
“You can tell how busy we were the day before by the smudges on the outside of the tanks,” she said.
I had never really thought about what goes on behind the scenes, but we were about to find out.
We passed a large tank with loud, swishing water. She explained that the zoo made its own salt water in the tank, and also had equipment to heat and cool water.
(trim extra words below) We learned that the failure of a cooling system had caused the temperature of a tank to rise too quickly a night earlier that week and had resulted in the death of the zoo’s lone octopus.
She led us into a back room that looked like a kitchen prep area. Thomas pointed out krill, Missouri gel and shrimp as some of the day’s delicacies.
Kati jumped back suddenly pointing to a loud barrel of live crickets.
“Those are for the reptiles,” Thomas said, explaining that this area was also shared with the other department. And we laughed thinking it would have been silly for us to have thought fish were responsible for eating live crickets.
Next, Thomas showed us around the upper level where we had a chance to look down into the tanks. She explained that dives occur twice a day where a staff of volunteers and workers cleans the tanks and feeds their residents. The 55,000 gallon tank features Indopacific life and contains artificial coral that divers clean in rotation. She said a funny dive memory was being followed around by a shark that likes to bite the backs of the booties that divers wear.
At the top of the facility we also saw different quarantine tanks where fish are kept for a variety of reasons. Some are separated because they are new and must be parasite free before they can enter tanks with other fish. Others, like a fish we later accompanied on a medical visit, are quarantined because of scrapes or sickness. She brought us to the other side where we looked down into another tank.
Suddenly we could hear splashing.
“Jumping sharks,” she explained. “We call them Harry and Lloyd, affectionately ‘Dumb and Dumber’.”
Who knew sharks could jump?!
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