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BROOKFIELD, Ill., July 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The popular summer exhibit at Brookfield Zoo, Sharks! at Stingray Bay, will reopen July 26. It provides an incredible hands-on opportunity for zoo guests to learn about some amazing sea creatures and to develop an appreciation for them. The touch tank experience is what the Chicago Zoological Society’s mission is all about, which is to inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.
The exhibit has been closed since July 14 when a simultaneous malfunction of the heating and cooling components of its life support system resulted in the deaths of just over half of the southern and cownose stingrays. When the equipment malfunctioned, it led to a temporary 10 degree increase in the 16,000-gallon pool’s water temperature, from 79 degrees to 89 degrees, causing the animal fatalities.
The remaining stingrays, white-spotted bamboo sharks, nurse sharks, and horseshoe crabs are all doing well. In addition, Living Exhibits, the vendor who installed, owns, maintains, and operates the zoo’s temporary exhibit, will be bringing additional stingrays from its other facilities beginning next week.
“To help ensure this situation does not happen again, Chicago Zoological Society staff have taken additional precautionary measures besides those that were already in place by Living Exhibits. The health and welfare of the animals are our main concerns,” said Dan Wharton, Ph.D., senior vice president of animal programs for Chicago Zoological Society (CZS), which manages Brookfield Zoo.
CZS has installed a round-the-clock temperature surveillance system to Living Exhibit’s equipment. This computer software system monitors the pool’s temperature every 10 minutes. In the event of an increase or decrease outside of the set temperature range, the system will notify the Society’s environmental quality manager so the temperature can be quickly corrected. Routine checks of the exhibit by CZS staff will be made hourly during the night in addition to the daily health checks by zoo veterinarians.
Brookfield Zoo also has its own back-up generator, which operates during total power outages and during extreme heat days during peak hours. The generator will regulate the voltage to the system during any extreme heat days even during off peak hours. In addition, the Chicago Zoological Society will be providing two new transformers that will regulate the power supply specifically for the life support system keeping it at a constant voltage.
Open every day of the year, the zoo is located off First Avenue between the Stevenson (I-55) and Eisenhower (I-290) expressways and is also accessible via the Tri-State Tollway (I-294), Metra commuter line, CTA, and PACE bus service. For further information, visit www.CZS.org.
SOURCE Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo
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