So Sad - 33 Reptiles Die Overnight at Zoo

[Craiga 01453]

It really is getting weirder. They may "never know" the cause of these animals dying. Wasn't food related and apparently not gas ingestion. Some animals had substrate in their mouths, some did not. Some had mild redness in the lungs. Strange and getting stranger...

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It really is getting weirder. They may "never know" the cause of these animals dying. Wasn't food related and apparently not gas ingestion. Some animals had substrate in their mouths, some did not. Some had mild redness in the lungs. Strange and getting stranger...

[zina10]

My bet is on a chemical aerosol. Most likely a cleaning agent.

Could be very well so. But then..in a zoo setting, everything is logged.
Cleaning crews are on a schedule. And in animals settings, only certain and approved cleaning agents are allowed/used. They know how dangerous certain fumes can be.

I would assume that this is one of the scenarios that was one of their immediate concerns and got ruled out?

This kind of reeks of someone "knowing" what would kill such animals and introducing it into the room somehow. Which could even be done from the outside, only a small opening is needed..
Its just to weird that they still don't know. A cleaning crew being on schedule for that night, or even at the zoo, would be easy to check out, I would think??

Just strange..

[JodanOrNoDan]

I suppose it could have been a deliberate act of some sort, however it is usually the simplest scenario that turns out to be the cause. Someone screwed up bad and someone else is covering for the screw up with the logic being applied that no matter who's fault it is the result cannot be reversed.

[FlynnTheBP]

Seems strange that foul play could be involved...how would someone kill all those animals with no physical signs? Gas poisoning? Maybe. The zoo claims that alarms for temps were set and surely someone checked on the animals occasionally. It's sad but I would guess that some sort of poisoning must have occurred, since it doesn't make sense that some of the more temperature-hardy species such as rattlers would die, but others wouldn't. It's pretty upsetting no matter what happened.

[distaff]

Could be very well so. But then..in a zoo setting, everything is logged.
Cleaning crews are on a schedule. And in animals settings, only certain and approved cleaning agents are allowed/used. They know how dangerous certain fumes can be.

I would assume that this is one of the scenarios that was one of their immediate concerns and got ruled out?

This kind of reeks of someone "knowing" what would kill such animals and introducing it into the room somehow. Which could even be done from the outside, only a small opening is needed..
Its just to weird that they still don't know. A cleaning crew being on schedule for that night, or even at the zoo, would be easy to check out, I would think??

Just strange..

You would think everyone would be informed of that, but don't rule out simple "stupid." I've told this story before, but I used to work in a building that supposedly had a mould problem. One day, someone took upon themselves to get an aerosol can of something NASTY, and spray the air to get rid of the mould. We were all working there at the time, and this guy is just going around cubicles spraying! I nearly gagged from the fumes. People also love their air fresheners. I can't stand to be around that stuff.

The deaths may have been due to an odd one-off no one would necessarily have known about. For example, microwave popcorn party for the night cleaning crew? Those bags have teflon in them, and are a deadly hazard to birds. I haven't heard of teflon hazards to reptiles, but teflon in a microwave bag is the kind of thing almost no one is even aware of to begin with.

[zina10]

You are all right.

I just can't wrap my head around it that this happened at night. When alarms are set and entries are logged.

They said that was checked upon, NO-ONE entered the room during that time. I suppose they can make sure of that, if they said they did?

So how did the fumes get in there accidentally? Without anyone entering?

That is why I find this so suspicious..

Otherwise I would absolutely go with "cleaning gone wrong" or, given the building was aging as they say, some renovations gone wrong. Many adhesives, spray foam, insulation etc is very toxic. But again, at night? With no-one having entered the building??

[bcr229]

Since the eggs in incubators were ok I would guess that the facility didn't overheat. There should also have been multiple thermometers and/or thermostats that would have sounded alarms had temperatures climbed dangerously high.

IIRC signs of CO poisoning do appear in bloodwork.

There hasn't been any mention of audio/video security footage from inside or around the building, often these systems just run on a continuous loop that overwrite footage more than 48 hours old. If there was a system in place then the authorities would know if this was a deliberate act.

[bcr229]

Update:
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2...les/316341001/

From the article:
Exact toxin unknown

The exact identity of the deadly toxin remains a mystery. Tests couldn't determine the poison.
"It helps to know that most likely an environmental toxic agent caused this," Zoo President and CEO Lisa New said Friday. "But we will never know, we will not be able to determine that toxin."

Tests on both the animals and their building didn't pinpoint the exact cause of death. No poisons or infections were found in blood from the dead reptiles or unaffected animals. Zoo officials also determined within days of the event the reptiles didn't die from food issues, disease, infection or any human or animal predator.
The deaths happened on the night of a violent thunderstorm that swept through East Knoxville but no zoo systems pointed to any electrical failure of lightning strike, New said.
But zoo officials point out that carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and electrical shock cannot be tested for in animals' bodies after death and so can't be ruled out as potential causes. Knoxville Utilities Board tests done shortly after the deaths didn't find carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or methane gas in the building.

[tttaylorrr]

): sad.

[Jhill001]

animal rights folks don't usually kill the thing they wish to see free

Tell that to PETA.