Which story is true about Audubon Park Zoo? Were we lied to?

[booksenkatz]

Check out this story that was posted at DU on September 5th:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=155&topic_id=2381

I felt such relief after reading that story! Very few animals were lost and all was well at the zoo. It was one less thing to worry about, and maybe a little bit of good news amidst the Hell that the authorities created in NOLA for the human species.

Then this story was posted today at WWLTV.com:
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl101205audubon.e7ec29ce.html
THOUSANDS of animals are dead? And now zoo employees are being let go?? I don't think the zoo's future is as happy and cheerful as we were originally led to believe. Why the cheery report in the beginning?

I'm heartsick over this story again. And just so damned tired of lies, period.

[SouthernDem2004]

1. Both are.. The second article is about the Audubon Nature Institute which

includes the aquarium. The acquarium is the one that lost its exhibits when the power and generators failed. The fish died basicly.
The Zoo itself did ok.

[WildClarySage]

2. Sounds like most of the dead animals were in the Aquarium,

which makes sense- aquarium critters have special environmental needs that include generated temperature controls and fresh food (the absense of the food would leave it a fish-eat-fish kinda pond.) When the generators failed, the animals who are most vulnerable, the fish died. That the animals in the zoo portion were mostly unhurt is something to celebrate!

[booksenkatz]

3. So the "thousands" includes the aquarium AND the zoo together?

Also, I thought I'd read early on that the aquarium had lost some animals but was basically ok. I don't think that the loss of 10,000 is ok.

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't realize that the zoo and aquarium were pretty much one and the same. But I still don't like the sound of this story.

[Brotherjohn]

4. I read very early on that 1000s of fish (including all the big sharks...

... in the Gulf of Mexico tank) died. Generators gave out, filters stopped working, doesn't take long.

With the aquarium being out of commission indefinitely, and the zoo (even if it were up and running, which it's probably not yet) not having many potential visitors, I'm not surprised at all that they'll have to lay off many workers.

It's a story being repeated all over New Orleans, unfortunately.