A solitary African penguin waddled through an empty foyer at the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, peeking curiously under an unoccupied bench.
As he examined a sedated sea otter pup rescued from the kelp beds off Santa Cruz, Dr. Michael Murray, the aquarium’s director of veterinary services, wondered aloud if the animals notice how much things have changed.“Part of me says, ‘Oh, they don’t really care,’” he said. “The other part says, ‘These are not dumb animals. They’re very aware of their surroundings. They can see people through the acrylic. They can react to people.
“It’s been frightening; it’s been concerning, disconcerting,” said Jon Hoech, the vice president of animal care, who was evacuated from his home near Salinas because of the River fire. “We’ve had to navigate PPE [personal protective equipment], social distancing, doing split shifts … but the real difficulty for the staff is not having people see the work they’re so passionate about.”
The aquarium shut down March 13. A grand reopening was planned for July 9, but it was scrapped a few days before because Monterey County had just been placed on the“The visitors are gone. The revenue is gone. Meantime, the animals and exhibits are doing great.”Rey the penguin affectionally kisses aviculturist Madeline McCuen while taking a stroll outside of his enclosure at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
It has been pleading with donors to give more and scaled back conservation programs. It cut 70% of the budget for its conservation and science department, which, among other things, works to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and combat the negative effects of climate change.The aquarium has kept a limited staff on-site to care for the more than 81,000 animals and maintain the complex system that pumps in some 2,000 gallons of seawater per minute.
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