Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House (Closed) Southern Encounter OK???

[zooboy28]

@Chlidonias

Is Southern Encounter okay? Any news from Willowbank or Orana, which I would not expect to suffer any real damage, having relatively modern facilities and located further from the CBD?

No information available yet on any of their websites, but they are presumably not going to be open today, with no power, water or sewerage operating in the city/region, although they presumably have generators.

For those who don't know, Southern Aquarium is an aquarium (mostly fish, native herps and kiwi) located in the heart of Christchurch, this morning (4.30am NZ Time - ie. 4.5hrs ago) hit by a 7.4 earthquake, which has caused extensive damage in the city, especially the older central part.

Southern Encounter is on the ground floor in Cathedral Square, an area which is showing damage on TV images, but there has been no info yet on the Cathedral itself, which Im sure would be mentioned if damaged. The entire CBD is now closed, so I'm not even sure if Chlidonias can get in today.

Anyway, does anyone know anything yet about SE? And what would you expect damage-wise in an aquarium hit by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake?

 

[Chlidonias]

from what I've heard the Aquarium is fine, just tens of thousands of litres of water on the floor (the big tanks are open-topped and with the quantities of water in them there would have been waves washing over the top!). However there may be damage not yet seen. Hopefully the building itself is still structurally sound, given its age. The CBD appears to have been hardest hit, probably in large extent due to the number of old buildings. The Aquarium has generators to keep the place running when there's no power. I only got my power back a short while ago but still no water (possibly not for days or weeks!). Fortunately I live in the east of the city which got off almost scott-free - I only lost water from my own tanks whereas people in other parts of the city had entire fish-rooms completely destroyed (and entire houses come to that). I saw the Cathedral still standing in the distance in one of the photos on the news, but it almost certainly suffered at least some damage.

I haven't heard anything about Orana or Willowbank yet, but will do so in a few days and will post here.

Earthquake has been downgraded to 7.1 now but still the largest to have hit NZ in a very long time. A couple of big aftershocks as well, measured at 5 and 6 on the Richter Scale

 

[zooboy28]

Well thats good news, it would have been pretty bad if the big marine tank glass broke. But good to hear that the aquarium, your fish, and you, are OK! Bet the shops a mess though. Hope there is not too much other damage and that the building is all good as well.

 

[Chlidonias]

just saw this:
Radio New Zealand : News : Christchurch Earthquake : Traumatised monkey dies at wildlife park

All dangerous animals are safely enclosed at Orana Wildlife Park but one monkey has died following a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Canterbury on Saturday.

The quake cause widespread damage throughout the region and has knocked out power and water to the popular attraction.

Park chief executive Lynn Anderson says one of its black and white monkeys became traumatised and tried to escape from its island enclosure and drowned in a moat on Saturday.

Mr Anderson says staff managed to save a kiwi egg, which is due to hatch in the next week.

the "black and white monkey" is a black and white ruffed lemur. "Mr. Anderson" is actually a woman.

 

[zooboy28]

Oh dear, thats no good.
Aren't the black and white ruffed lemurs in cages though, and the ring-tailed lemurs on the island? They were earlier this year anyway, do they swap around?

 

[Chlidonias]

the ring-tails are on the island by the paddocks, near the farmyard. The ruffed lemurs are on the island in the lake by the tigers and native area (with the spider monkeys on islands at the other end of this lake). They are in cages at Willowbank so you may have got the specifics mixed up? [alternatively, Orana's ruffed lemurs may have just been in their indoor part when you saw them, although I dare say you would have noticed the island next door]

 

[zooboy28]

oh yes, its coming back to me now, the ringtails were on that island by the sables and the ruffeds were in their inside quarters. I can't actually remember the ruffed island, but I do remember the spider monkey island in that area. I havent been to Willowbank, so I don't think it would have been thare I was thinking of

 

[Tygo]

Willow bank is alright the gibbons got a bit shaken up but the staff were looking after 14 kiwi eggs.

 

[Chlidonias]

Updates: the Southern Encounter Aquarium is fine, just a matter of a lot of water going everywhere. A few fish ended up on the floor including one of my favourites, the porcupine-fish, but all are back in the tanks again (hopefully the porcupine-fish will recover, but not so sure about the yellow-eyed mullet which are pretty beat up). The building is undamaged apart for the facade which is more cosmetic than anything, and this was being worked on today. It looks like the Aquarium will be re-opening on Thursday, all things going well.

Orana Park was undamaged, although as noted earlier a ruffed lemur drowned. No other animals were hurt. The park was closed for Saturday and Sunday but was open today. Because of the number of dangerous animals at the park (lions, tigers, etc) the park needs to close when the power is cut, and of course after something like a powerful earthquake all the fences need to be carefully checked to ensure they are safe.

Willowbank was undamaged and no animals were hurt. It was open on Sunday and today (only closed on Saturday, which was the day of the quake). The most dangerous animals at Willowbank are the siamang, followed by small-clawed otters, so it has a different situation to Orana Park.

The Antarctic Centre (which houses little blue penguins and also has an Antarctic aquarium) is also undamaged and is now open.


There have been over 80 aftershocks, several of them very large (over 5 on the Richter scale), since the initial quake on Saturday.

 

[Chlidonias]

here's another bit about the Orana lemur:
Lemur quake victim - national | Stuff.co.nz

A 10-year-old lemur was the only animal from Orana Wildlife Park to die in Saturday's earthquake.

Gidro, a black and white ruffed lemur, drowned as a result of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake which hit Christchurch at 4.36am.

He was a fantastic animal to work with and very nice-natured, animal collection manager Ian Adams said.

"Many visitors will have had the opportunity to meet him up close and others would have seen him interact with staff at the daily feed presentation," Mr Adams said.

Orana Park lost power for four hours and there are still concerns about a kiwi egg that is due to hatch soon.

The egg was rocked about in its incubator and head keeper of native fauna Tara Atkinson said it would be a miracle if the chick was alright.

Orana Park has re-opened with no structural damage and all other animals were unharmed.

 

[Chlidonias]

here's a bit about a kiwi egg hatching at Willowbank (referenced in post #8 above)
Rare kiwi hatches - National - NZ Herald News

One of the kiwi eggs at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve that survived the Canterbury earthquake has hatched on cue at the start of Conservation Week.

Named Richter, the newborn kiwi is from the critically endangered rowi population. Willowbank is caring for 17 kiwi eggs as part of BNZ Operation Nest Egg.

"Our first egg hatch this year is one breakage that is a welcome relief after the recent quakes," said Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson.

The eggs had rolled around in the incubator during the big quake but were kept safe by rubber matting.

Richter will be transferred to the safe island of Motuara in the Marlborough Sounds before returning home in about a year to Okarito Kiwi Zone, near Franz Josef on the West Coast.

Death toll at the Southern Encounter Aquarium was one groper (hapuka), one sea perch, and several yellow-eyed mullet, all of which had suffered damage during the quake and died in the days afterwards

 

[Hix]

Richter - what a great name!



Hix

 

[Chlidonias]

and another kiwi/earthquake story, this one at Orana Park (basically the zoos are just milking the earthquake now)
Feisty kiwi chick survives quake - national | Stuff.co.nz

A healthy kiwi chick has hatched at Christchurch's Orana Park, allaying fears that the earthquake had damaged the egg.

The magnitude 7.1 quake on September 4 caused a power outage of four hours as well as rocking the delicate egg inside its incubator.

Orana Park staff were worried about the state of the egg and so were delighted with the arrival of the healthy chick on Friday night, public relations manager Nathan Hawke said.

The kiwi would be called Ruwhenua, which means shaky ground or the shaking of the land.

``We think this name will serve as a reminder to us of the impact the earthquake and aftershocks have had upon Christchurch and Canterbury residents,'' head keeper of native fauna Tara Atkinson said.

There was an awkward moment during the hatching process when staff realised the chick had actually put its foot through one end of the egg (instead of kicking out at the middle of the egg) making it difficult to break free, Atkinson said.

But after some help from staff the brown kiwi chick hatched and is described as having a "feisty character''.

which is a better name, Richter or Ruawhenua?

 

[Chlidonias]

another few big earthquakes today (not big on the Richter Scale - the largest was only 4.9 - but big in damage). The Aquarium has been closed, probably for at least the next few days, because part of the building frontage collapsed at about 10.35am, literally one minute after everyone had been evacuated due to a big shock a few minutes prior. The Aquarium itself is undamaged (tanks, kiwi house, etc). Quite a bit more damage to other buildings around town.

Damage today was centred on the central city so Orana, Willowbank etc are untouched and business as normal.

 

[Hix]

At least no-one was hurt. And no animals injured.



Hix

 

[Chlidonias]

here's a couple of photos today from the outside of the Aquarium. (There was supposed to be a crane there pulling part of the front away, which is what I was wanting to get some snaps of, but its been postponed till tomorrow and I'll be in Akaroa then dolphin spotting). Anyway...

 

[Chlidonias]

and a few photos from the neighbouring streets. The big shocks yesterday were centred under Brougham Street which isn't far from the Aquarium, hence the reason it was felt so severely there. Apparently the building directly over the epicentre of the biggest shock yesterday was completely levelled. I just read too that there have been over 3600 aftershocks since the initial quake in September. Fun times here.