A wild mink weaseled his way into the tufted puffins exhibit at Point Defiance Zoo $ Aquarium this week, killing seven of the coastal birds and forcing closure of the exhibit.
Zoo staff discovered the dead birds and immediately closed the exhibit Wednesday. The mink was trapped and killed Thursday.
The surviving 19 puffins and five common murres will soon be sent to Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Ore. They will remain there while zoo staff renovates the exhibit, ensuring that future predators can’t get in. The work could take months.
“We took action quickly to ensure that our remaining birds are – and will remain – safe,” said Gary Geddes, director of the Zoological & Environmental Education Division of Metro Parks Tacoma.
Officials said the exhibit opened 30 years ago and no predator ever invaded the space until the mink.
Would have made a great Halloween exhibit!
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That’s amazing and cool that there are wild minks in Pt. D. Not so good that they know about the vulnerable zoo creatures though…
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Minks gotta eat too.
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I don’t understand the need to kill the mink.
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There once was a mischievous mink
At the zoo, and he made a big stink
He ate the murres and the tuffins
But you haven’t seen nothin’
He didn’t even stop for a drink
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a mink weaseled his way in ? really ?
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Irony = A bunch of deleterious birds imprisoned in a cage. Indigenous rodent, following all the laws of nature, manages to kill some of the birds. Rodent is sought and killed while the remaining birds are shipped off to a different cage while improvements are made on their cage. I think anyone who works at the zoo should be made to live there – unable to leave the zoo perimeter. They would still have it loads better than any of the other animals.
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I guess it was just easier to butcher the Mink than it would have been to live trap them and move them out of the area, what a waste.
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