Several years ago when my Wife worked at the Salisbury Zoo she was confronted with the new Spectacle Bear having a tooth issue. She consulted with Dr. Tragle about the problem and ultimately made contact with a Dentist in Ocean City who was willing to do the root canal at no cost to the City/Zoo.
They started making final arrangements and then all hell broke loose at the Zoo and ultimately my Wife and Dr. Tragle left and the painful problem rested in the hands of former Zoo Director Jim Rapp.
Now, several years later, the Zoo finally flew in some specialists to do exactly what my Wife had arranged to be done for FREE to the Taxpayers and paid a pretty penny to have this work done. The financial impact from Rapp continues to plague the City as Joel Hamelton, (new Zoo Director) tries to clean up the mess.
One can only imagine just how much pain this Bear experienced for so many years. I'm sure Ron Alessi would scream, but we don't have the facility to do the work. Excuse me Ron but spending $3,000,000.00 on a facility to do a root canal or other surgeries is inexcusable. The ONLY reason the Zoo wants this facility is because the AZA is demanding they do so or they lose their accreditation. BIG DEAL! Besides, I was there when they did the surgery on the Jag years ago. Make shift, yes. Successful, absolutely.
Yeah, you may not want to see a human lying there on a table outdoors getting a root canal done but they had other options, like bringing it to the current animal services building. However, the photo op wouldn't have been the same or the sky is falling impact wouldn't have been so dramatic.
In the mean time, one can only wonder just how many thousands of dollars were spent doing this procedure. If Rapp hadn't had it out so bad for my Wife and Dr. Tragle, how many thousands of dollars would the City have saved? Well, at least, (after 6 years) the Bear is finally out of pain. Isn't it just wonderful how well these people treat the animals at the Zoo! Think about it. Would YOU have left your pet in such pain for so many years?
Poor bear. That should have been done when they first dicovered the problem.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable? No. Not in the land of endless money mentality. I wonder how many other animals are suffering? The whole thing smells of manure.
ReplyDeleteIts a small zoo no one wants to work at. The only people interested in working there are the rejects from other zoo's. Its not even a stepping stone.
ReplyDeleteZoo should not even be open let alone have AZA accreditation.
ReplyDeleteThere is not excuse for this kind of cruelty. If you can't afford to care for the animals the zoo should be closed and the animals sent to zoo's who can take care of them.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder he always seemed depressed. Living in a cage AND in pain would make me sad too.
ReplyDeleteI think people are more important than animals. The zoo is a joke, close it down.
ReplyDeleteGlad the poor guy finally got some care.
ReplyDeleteThe zoo is sweet and an atraction to Salisbury. We need to keep these animals in good health and the Zoo in good shape. BUT not at the cost to building a building for operations. Close the gift shop and use that building. I wonder how much that gift shop brings in any how. Maybe we could hire Comegy's & Gordy to run the zoo and then we will have a state of the art zoo with a fire boat and new trucks.
ReplyDeleteDr. Tragle was able to perform brain surgery on a bear at the zoo when he was their vet.
ReplyDeleteClearly Mr. Rapp made some mistakes. But he's no longer there. It's wrong to fault the current Zoo administration for this problem -- they got it fixed!
ReplyDeleteAllen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America's Best Zoos
This is such a lie, because the bear that was operated on was not even at the zoo when Jennifer was there. What are you trying to do here Joe? Why would you make up such a lie?
ReplyDeleteIt did take a little while to get someone in to tkae care of this bear's problem but that is because the first dentist that was lined up to do it never showed when he found out he would have to do it outside so the zoo had to start looking all over again.
Lined up a dentist that specialized in animals, he has a people practice as well, but he has done alot of dentistry work for alot of zoo so he was very familiar with animal dentistry, not some half cocked idiot from OC.
anonymous 8:24, YOU'RE A LIAR!
ReplyDeleteNice try Idiot but you're completely clueles. In fact, Jennifer was one of at least two people telling Jim Rapp the Bear was NUTS, mental issues, DON'T GET IT! But Jim Rapp being the complete IDIOT that he is, went for it anyway because it was FREE!
Jennifer, Anne & Gary, (the three most senior people in that Zoo) told Jim to stay away from that bear, as did Veterinarian Jimmy Tragle.
So bite me Idiot. Jennifer was there back then. Nice try!