Denver Zoo rescues more than 100 animals from closed SeaQuest aquarium
Denver Zoo is now home to 130 more animals after acquiring them from the recently closed SeaQuest aquarium in Littleton.
SeaQuest closed for good on Feb. 4 following multiple citations and complaints of animal welfare concerns. Along with the Downtown Denver Aquarium, the zoo acquired several of SeaQuest's aquatic creatures including a variety of fish, reptiles, sharks and wallabies.
"It's been a little bit of a whirlwind," said Emily Insalaco, Senior Director of Animal Care at Denver Zoo. "It happened pretty quickly."
Moving more than 100 creatures is a tall order, but Insalaco said it's something she and her team are proud to do.
"Denver Zoo does have the resources, the expertise, the facilities to jump in to help wildlife when we can," she told CBS News Colorado. "We've been equipped to handle things like this in the past and we're really proud to be able to step in and help wildlife when we can."
Among those facilities is Denver Zoo's state-of-the-art animal hospital. That's where some of the rescued critters are receiving care and being evaluated while in a 30 to 90-day quarantine.
"Luckily, everyone's doing really well. The animals are in pretty good shape," said Insalaco. "We're currently going through what's called a quarantine period and that's our opportunity to look at their condition, how they're doing in their environment, their health."
Some of the animals getting such care include a keel-billed toucan, red-necked wallabies, African pancake tortoises and a New Guinea blue-tongued skink. Guests can't see those animals just yet, but some of the newcomers are already on display inside Tropical Discovery, the zoo's indoor rainforest exhibit. It'll probably be a month or so before all the rescued creatures are viewable to zoo visitors.
"It's hard to say exactly," Insalaco said. "It's really kind of dependent on the species and their quarantine."
Until then, the rescued animals will continue to receive quality TLC from zoo staff behind the scenes.
"Part of why we're passionate about this is we get to learn about how to advance animal care in zoos and aquariums, so having new species for us is not only exciting but it's also a fun opportunity to advance what we know about the animals in the field," Insalaco said.
For more information and upcoming news and announcements, visit DenverZoo.org
