Detroit Zoo Welcomes New Face

Pequot The Harp Seal Joins The Zoo's Arctic Ring Of Life Exhibit

POSTED: Monday, December 21, 2009
ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- The Detroit Zoo is now the permanent home for a rescued harp seal.

Pequot is a 70-pound male seal, believed to be 1-year-old. He was found on a beach in Massachusetts in August, where he was taken to Mystic Aquarium. A medical exam has revealed that Pequot had congenital blindness. The zoo said if returned to the ocean, his chance of of survival would be very low.

"We're happy we can provide a home for this little guy who can't be returned to his natural habitat," said Scott Carter, the Detroit Zoo's Chief Life Sciences Officer. "The Arctic Ring of Life is a great place for seals and we think he'll do very well here."

Pequot's new home, The Arctic Ring of Life, is North America's largest polar bear and seal exhibit. It has more than 4 acres of outdoor and indoor habitats and has the Fredrick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage, which is a 70-foot-long clear underwater tunnel where visitors can see polar bears and seals swimming around them.

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Click on Detroit

Wonderful story, I am personally looking forward to seeing him this upcoming Spring as I live about a mile from the Zoo here in Royal Oak..

That's wonderful, I live only a few miles from the Detroit Zoo. I remember going there as a kid. I think I'll have to go again soon.

reply to post by kingoftheworld


That is great, you should go, I do at least once or twice a year, my daughter and son in law have a membership and take my two young grandchildren all the time...I love the Aviary there, it's amazing.

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This makes me want to head to the National Aquarium in Baltimore this weekend. Too cold to really enjoy either of the local zoos right now.

reply to post by wingnut01


Would love to visit the National Aquarium one day, we are lucky that we still have the Detroit Zoo, it was about to close down 3-4 years ago but the Michigan Zoological Society took it over and it's now solvent. Think they should change the name, it was never in Detroit but was financed by the City and they are in big trouble.

Yay! Harp seals are awesome. My boss has done some pretty cool work with them.

One of those aquariums in the OP is AWFUL familiar to me (Mystic).

The exhibit at the Detroit Zoo sounds very cool. I love Mystic because of the connections with the organization that I work for, but also because they have a cetacean there that isn't a dolphin! Yes, they have a beluga. It's very exciting. They've also got a bunch of harbor seals, I think, but so does every aquarium in the Northeast, including my local one.

Let's see... in terms of coolest aquariums. I love the Boston Aquarium with a passion. Baltimore is pretty good. And the Miami Seaquarium rocks.

And then there are all the countless other research institutions with oceanariums that I love.

[edit on 12/24/2009 by ravenshadow13]

Reminds me of my all time favorite bumper sticker

I (club sign) Baby Seals. I'll never forget that one.

Well hopefully this little guy is doing better than the actual residents of Detroit. I hear it is awfully miserable over there. Haven't they lost about half of their population? Makes me wonder how they can actually support a zoo?

reply to post by Carseller4


If this zoo is doing what it did in this case, aka support and rehabilitate individual animals that cannot survive in the wild, it is likely receiving some funding or grant money and a bunch of donations.

reply to post by Carseller4


If you read my post above where I said the Michigan Zoological Society took over the Detroit Zoo 3-4 years ago, the Zoo is not located in the City of Detroit, it's in Royal Oak a North Western suburb...in fact I live about a mile from the Zoo...

reply to post by ravenshadow13


The Zoo is located in Oakland County which is very afluent and they do get plently of donations, as far as the State or Federal Government I don't know..

Donations my a$$, As it was said above the detroit zoo is not in detroit much like everything else detroit is not in detroit. Since it is the detroit zoo I think detroit should pay for it at the least. I don't like the fact that I do not live in detroit BUT I have to pay for the zoo now?

Sorry the zoo should pay for itself by ticket sales, Donations , ect. and if it cannot then it should close like everything else would. The people who do not live in detroit/wayne county should not be paying for the zoo via property taxes. The people in that or other county's are not paying for my Library.

The people here in this state right now are lucky if there paying there rent or feeding there family, they dont need to be feeding some animal held hostage in a cage, good bad or otherwise.

Furthermore the zoo dose not respect the right's of the citizens here via michigan ccw law, but they will take my money..? That's not working..




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reply to post by 22-250


Don't agree with you, there are many wonderful things in Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Science Center and my Alma Mater, Wayne State University...I am not afriad to go there and I don't carry a gun..

Yes Sir you are correct however it is what it is. I used to live in NYC, it was fun, I like it here but I miss the city. Detroit is not great, It has a few things but , well but. There are no people there, we all live elsewhere . I don't mean to trash detroit but Its just not much and I wish is was.

BTW I went back and edited that part out, It did not fit the subject matter.

Originally posted by 22-250
Yes Sir you are correct however it is what it is. I used to live in NYC, it was fun, I like it here but I miss the city. Detroit is not great, It has a few things but , well but. There are no people there, we all live elsewhere . I don't mean to trash detroit but Its just not much and I wish is was.

Interesting that you would trash paying for a zoo because you do not live where the zoo gets it's name from. Imagine how much those of us in WNY LOOOOOOOOOOOVE funding NYC and reaping none of the benefits that you enjoyed so much from it. It is all relative.

The Detroit Zoological Park, commonly known as the Detroit Zoo, is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the Detroit city limits at the intersection of Woodward Avenue, 10 Mile Road, and Interstate 696 in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods, Michigan, USA. The Detroit Zoological Society, a non-profit organization, operates both the Detroit Zoo and the Belle Isle Nature Zoo, located in the city of Detroit. The Detroit Zoological Society is responsible for the care and feeding of more than 1,800 vertebrates and 5,000 invertebrates representing over 270 species

en.wikipedia.org...

A polar bear swims above the crowd at the Arctic Ring of Life exhibit
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Some interesting facts about the Detroit Zoo at the link which I am happy to say is almost in my back yard.

I live fairly close to The Detroit Zoo. I'm glad to see that they are adding to the zoo, because I know for a while they were talking about the zoo closing down because they weren't making any money. It would be a shame to have future generations miss out on the joys of going to the zoo as a child. I know I loved the zoo when I was younger.

Let me clear a couple things up:

A zoo is not just a zoo. Some zoos are just zoos, but the Detroit Zoo and most large zoos are not only zoos. There are also many places such as wildlife preserves throughout the world that are not just zoos. They do present animals for you to oggle at. These places also:

- Rehabilitate animals
- Protect and maintain individual animals which are unable to survive in the wild but have merit for observation and research
- Fund a number of research programs
- Continually provide data on specific animals and how they act and survive in captivity, which is especially beneficial when the species being studied are not easily studied in the wild.
- Provide opportunities for the breeding of individuals in captivity which helps to further the species, specifically endangered or threatened species.
- Educate the public (you) about the plight of many species in the wild and furthers an appreciation for the animals that you see, and can educate in ways to protect each individual species, which will hopefully help in conservation efforts.
- Studying these species in captivity allows researchers to help rehabilitate and protect them to a greater degree in the field without removing them from their natural habitats.

And that, my friends, is why many zoos receive grants, funding, and donations. Many of the grants are private grants from organizations and individuals.

22-250- You should be careful of your circumvent of censors. In addition- "The people here in this state right now are lucky if there paying there rent or feeding there family, they dont need to be feeding some animal held hostage in a cage, good bad or otherwise. "

Well, if you do not feed the animals in a "cage" they will perish. In the case of species which survive solely in captivity, that means the decline of an entire species, and in the future there will be no chance of full rehabilitation. Also, many zoos have intricate programs and researchers who find the best ways to keep animals comfortably in captivity.

It is extremely rare to find an animals just "kept in a cage" but maybe to your untrained eye you are unable to see the places that animals in zoos have away from the prying eyes of the public. Most exhibits have a larger area away from the glass windows that allows them a greater range and privacy. All exhibits are typically tailored in terms of vegetation and architecture to nearly mimic the natural environment for these animals. And in most cases, these individuals would not survive in the wild.

If you know of a zoo that is keeping animals in cages, not funding or conducting research, etc, that is animal cruelty and it should be reported to the proper authorities. But I do believe you are unfamiliar with the many programs running behind most zoos and perhaps you should take a closer look.

Zoos are also large sources of tourism income for an area. Your local zoo helps the economy of your community more than you seem to know. It also helps the animals in the zoos and the animals in the wild, and the greater scientific community.

If you are from NYC, you are familiar with the Bronx Zoo, which has also gone to great strides both in the zoo itself and in terms of world species diversity. I know an individual who has worked with the exhibits there to ensure that they are designed to be as least invasive as possible to the animals there, that the ecology of the exhibit is best catered to the exact individual animals in that exhibit, and that effort is the same effort which helps the institution to receive funding and donations.

Ticket sales do help a zoo, but they help most directly with large costs like food, heating, etc. Donations, research grants, and funding are also a piece of the puzzle. If you don't donate to help your local zoo, that's alright, because I do. And many people like me do.


So, I apologize to so directly correct you. But now you have learned something, yes?


[edit on 12/25/2009 by ravenshadow13]

Ok It's all my fault, the zoo and NYC have nothing to do with each other. I am grouchy just finding out I am paying for the zoo via my tax dollars thats all..

I would like to add someone bring up the point that we get stupid when we get mad,,I agree.. could not agree more..

Just to let you all know the Detroit Zoo has a great train to ride from one end to the other. In the 70's the money from that train kept the zoo alive and is a majon source of income for it today. The repair and mantaince of the train is paid for byu the Big 3 automakers I believe. Just an .02$ from a train nut