This news hasnt broken on here, yet, so i am very sadend to be the one to inform that Brooke, taronga's eldest leopard seal passed away on Thursday. Brooke Farewelled
its really quite sad to think that after living in that old old pool for so long when she finally got a new home she doesnt get to use it. she will deffinatly be missed but on the flip side we now have the capacity to resuce another leopard seal if one washes up again. MISS YOU BROOKIE!!
this is so sad. with cynthia passed on two of the animals that i remember most from growing up are now gone. brooke was usually my first stop as i walked down from the entrance. when GSO opened i had noticed that she didn't like the large glass window often being very agressive towards the people on the other side. maybe this and a combination of the new arrivals AND getting out of the small pool she had been in for nearly ten years put her off her food and she succumbed to infection. only the other day i went and saw the two younger ones being feed and trained by their keepers and wondered where she was. such a sad couple of months for taronga.
Who was Cynthia? Brooke looked like an amazing animal, and although I never saw her, I will remember her...
cynthia was one of the two sister kodiak bear that were at the zoo for over 25 years along with a male that passed away. both of the girls had severe arthrtis which the keepers managed with giving them supplements, putting ramps in their enclosure and reevaluating key aspects of their day. when i did work experience there they were training them to put their claws through the bars to be trimmed instead of having to put them to sleep to do the filing.
I found out a couple of days ago and couldn't say anything. Pretty upsetting, dreamt she was swimming in the ocean, woke up crying and developed a migraine. RIP Brookey, swim free beautiful.
Thankyou! It is awsome to see such support from everyone after Brookes passing. She will be missed by all. And it is true that taronga has lost some of it's biggest icons, with Fifi, Hope, Charity, Judy, Heman(Even though he was at Dubbo when he passed) and of course everyones sweetheart Cynthia, But then Brooke. This time is one that unfortunatly all zoo's face, when the animals that had been famous at the zoo for so long start to pass due to age. It however means that lots of new faces will start to show up, (thats all i can say), but with every loss there is also a flip side. However Brooke, we'll miss you, i enjoyed everyday i spent working with you, and you'll always be a very special animal.
How many Leopard Seals are held at Taronga Zoo? I heard of 3 but unsure if true... I saw the new Great Southern Oceans exhibits a month ago and give the zoo the full thumbs up! Sad Brooke didnt get to enjoy it as much as we would have loved her to. I believe she was on display on the day I went she seemed to be enjoying her self lapping up the new pool and enjoying a nice sunny haul-out. Also did Taronga ever have Southern Elephant Seals?
there were three but with Brookes passing its one young boy Casey and one girls Sabine. i dont know about Elephant Seals
