New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas

This is sad. My wife and I visited the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans in 2002.

New Orleans' aquarium mostly killed off

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The world-renowned New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas has lost almost all of its fish after Hurricane Katrina knocked out the facility's electrical power.

The conservation Web site Mongabay.com said before the Aug. 29 storm, the aquarium had 10,000 fish representing more than 530 species. However, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association Web site reported some animals did survive.

"The sea otters, penguins, leafy and weedy sea dragons, birds (macaws and raptors), and the white alligator are fine," the association said. "Midas, the infamous 250-pound sea turtle, survived and has been coaxed into the holding area in the Gulf of Mexico Exhibit."

New Orleans' other animal centers fared better, with only a pair of river otters reported dead at the Audubon Zoo and a whooping crane lost at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the 211-member American Zoo and Aquarium Association began a fund-raising relief initiative, headed by the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

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