Goodbye, Zhoosh

 (This photo is my computer background image. It is SO great.)

Losing any part of your family is hard. Losing Clyde was especially hard. He didn’t fall into the category of a pet, but he certainly wasn’t just an exhibit animal. I will speak here for myself, as his keeper, but I know that there are many others here that feel the same way. He was family. He was an ambassador to his species. He was an educator. He was all that and more.

(Firstly, you are probably wondering, who on earth is "Clyde"?. Well, I have only known our sweet little boy otter as Clyde.  Zhoosh is his stage name. Clyde was given to him by the rehabber who worked with him when he was tiny. Now that we have cleared that up...) 

Anyway, watching anyone you love get sicker and sicker is hard. Since April, we've been struggling to find out just what exactly was wrong. He just stopped eating carrots, then his cat food, pretty soon smelt, then capelin. We took him to the vet multiple times. The first time we found pneumonia. What?  How does an otter get pneumonia? Yep. Our vet always said she thought it was secondary to something else…but, what? Finally, after a Friday night rush to the Emergency clinic (where we saw drastic improvement of his pneumonia), weeks of getting better, then weeks of regressing, we took him to the University of Minnesota Small Animal Hospital. It is like the Mayo Clinic for animals. (It’s awesome!) They did a CT scan, endoscopy, radiographs, blood work, and physical exams. They thought he had Irritable Bowel Syndrome, even though it has never been seen in an otter before. Our vet thought cancer. The treatment for both incurable diseases was the same, prednisone. So we went ahead with that.*

This is a screen shot of his CT scan. Neat!

Once we started that, he was his old self again. It was GREAT. I am so happy the meds gave him, and therefore he gave us, three awesome weeks of loving life. He spent them playing vigorously in the water followed by sleeping. His last days went by quickly, those too were spent playing, and we were still able to get his medicine into him. We didn't know the end was near until just before, so we think he was comfortable in his last moments.

He was a sweetie. We also called him “scaredy-otter”. And he was so fun. He was such an important part of my family. He had this look in his eyes, almost as if telling you he understood.

The only way to really see how wonderful he was is by pictures. I hope you can at least get a small glimpse of what he was like and what it was like to know him. 

 Just hanging out in the small water tub.

Laying on exhibit, sucking his paw!

This is an old one. He looks young! 

Being sneaky.

Leaving the holding area after lunch. Look at that tail!

 So sleepy, and a big yawn.

 What? (in his nighttime holding area)

Such a sweet face. (in their on exhibit cave) - I love this one. 

 Painting and looking hungry.

 

This is Clyde and me. He is sitting on the scale and here weighs exactly 22.00 pounds.   

 Waiting for his lunch.

 

 This day he LOVED his cat food. He ate well, so I thought it was a happy day. 

 SO, SO sleepy. 

 Chewing his shrimp. I love his expression. It's like, "hold on, I'm still chewing."

 

 Eating a hard boiled egg in the back, and he has egg all over his nose. Cutie. 

 

 Sound asleep.

 Close up of his sweet face, sound asleep.

 Ha, ha! He always goes into stuff face first. For example, paint. Silly! I never put food on their paint, he just sniffs it and gets paint on his face.

 In the last few months, we had some days where he would only eat certain things. This day, I brought salmon from my freezer at home and he loved it. 

 

This is one of my favorites. He is such a sweet heart. I have so many pictures of his face just like this. He always made this inquisitive look. 

We plan to hold a small memorial service for him and anyone who would like to say good bye. Please check our website and Facebook pages for updates on when that will take place. The details are still in the works.

*Editor's note:  The medical care provided to resident animals is very thorough.  Information about this care is not always available to the public while an animal is being treated.  We are sharing this information here as a way to highlight the high level of care the animals receive at the Aquarium.  It was important to us to provide a glimpse into this particular situation to help people understand and come to terms with this loss.  It is our mission to provide the best possible care for all species.  This includes working with specialized veterinary professionals.  We even have a fish vet!

Fire, Ice and the Display of a 500 Pound Turtle Fossil

Displayed in our new exhibit, Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life, you will find a 6 ft tall, by 6 ft wide 500 pound fossil cast of a soft-shell turtle.  Such a turtle would have swam in the waters around the Great Lakes Basin 50 million years ago. How does one display a 500# fossil you may ask? Well that is a question we asked as well, but as usual with the Great Lakes Aquarium staff these questions are answered with a bit of ingenuity, engineering and determination.

Using posts that we had from a previous exhibit we were able to build a structure that the Fossil will hang from as well as a frame to hide the structure.

Next ,we installed french cleats for to give the fossil piece support when it hangs from the structure.

The frame is than put into placed and anchored to the floor.

Once the frame is secure we can begin to hang the fossil. Using a pulley that can lift a ton of weight the Operations staff was able to lift the fossil into place on the newly built frame.

After running some power through the floor, for lighting, and a bit of paint the exhibit is in place.

Next time you are at the aquarium feel free to ask how we received our collection or how pieces were installed.  We are always happy to share these “behind the scene” stories.

Sneaky Zhoosh

As you may have guessed, cleaning up after animals is a lot of stinky work. But I love my job.

One of the main reasons I love coming to work at 7am is to see sleepy little otter faces.

Every morning, the first animals I feed are always the otters. I head up to Otter Cove at 7:30, turn their lights on, and talk quietly to them. (No one likes to wake up to loud noises and bright lights, right?) It is so fun to see Anang all curled up in her blankets, and Zhoosh sprawled out somewhere in his holding area. Zhoosh is always the first one to get up. He is ready and waiting for his breakfast, while Anang likes to sleep in (who doesn't?).

Well, this morning was one of those mornings. Anang stayed in bed until 9am!!! And, by 8am, I had fed Zhoosh his entire meal, plus an extra 2/3 can of wet cat food. We have recently switched brands, and Zhoosh LOVES this kind. But, he is a little skinny, so I thought a bit extra would be good for him. He thought the same, and kept wanting more. Well, I didn't want to over feed him, so I saved the remaining 1/3 of a can for Anang, who was still in bed. I put her fish, carrots, and cat food in her area, next to her bed. She noticed and was up right away; she LOVES eating in bed. She ate all of her fish, (obviously her favorite), but decided to save the cat food and carrots for later.

Then, it was time for them to go on the exhibit. Zhoosh was more than ready. Anang was still in bed. But I let Zhoosh out, and just propped the door open for Anang in case she decided it was time to go out for a swim. Then I went about my business cleaning.

A few minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of brown. Literally. I thought Anang had gotten up and ran out to exhibit. Oh no, it wasn't her. When I peeked at her, she was still sound asleep. Then, in the door way I see a little otter face peeking in. Zhoosh very quietly checked Anang to see if she was still sleeping, and then tip toed over to her little pile of cat food, grabbed a bite, and ran out. He came in a total of three times to get it all.

Anang didn't even notice. Ever.

Here are the three photos I got. (but he was so fast!!!)