Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
At the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, staff stayed until the last possible moment to keep emergency generators running and to stockpile food for the animals, according to an update on the organization's Web site.
Ron Forman, president of the Audubon Nature Institute, was on hand to personally feed the sea otters and refill the tanks fueling the generators that powered the life support system.
Because of flood devastation in New Orleans, staff members were eventually forced to evacuate. Shortly thereafter, the generators failed.
The aquarium's prized sharks, some of which measured nine feet in length, were among the casualties, according to a report in
The Boston Globe.
But there were survivors. Sea otters, penguins, leafy sea dragons, weedy sea dragons, some fish and Midas — a 250-pound green sea turtle — made it through the ordeal alive thanks to aquarium staff, said the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas on their Web site.
The survivors were transferred to three colleague institutions on Friday, Sept. 9.
Two sea otters and 19 penguins were sent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif.; leafy and weedy sea dragons were transported to the Dallas World Aquarium in Dallas, Texas; and Midas the sea turtle was given a temporary home at the Rainforest at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas.
The surviving fish, including eight large tarpon, will remain at the aquarium's Gulf of Mexico exhibit.
