This weekend I found myself in Gatlinburg, TN. Just kinda happened. While I was there, looking for something to do, I went to the Ripley's Aquarium in the Smokies.
http://www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com/
I will never go to this place again, and I'm curious as to you guy's opinions of what I saw there.
They have a shark tank there with one of those tubes that folks walk thru so they can see the fish and sharks. While I was there they had 3 divers in the tank. One diver was cleaning the walkway tube from insdie the tank and the other 2 divers were the 'safety divers'. By safety divers i mean that they carried big 3 foot long poles that they used to harrass the sharks with. Well I saw it as harrassing. I asked a guy that worked there and he said they were keeping the sharks away from the diver that was cleaning. Everytime a shark (they were mostly sand tigers) would come near a diver (at least 3 -4 feet away) the diver would take the stick and shove it in the sharks face near his eye and nose area and 'guided' the shark away. The worker there could not answer me when I asked how many shark vs diver incidents hey had had to start such a rule. He tried to b.s. me with something like, well the sharks know its their tank and they don't like the divers in there. Well, I would think that the sharks would get used to the divers in the tank, since they are in there several times a day.
But the whole 'to protect the divers' story fell thru when I saw the stick toting diver no where near the diver cleaning, doing the same thing, harrassing the sand tigers, especially when tourist would gather around the tank to watch. It was all show! I don't agree with it and I didn't like it. I left. I don't support stuff like that. I've seen divers in shark tanks before (ie..The Living Seas at EPCOT) and I have never seen divers carry sticks to ward off the sharks.
Oh and then to top it off, ok, first I know its not real coral in the tank, but I saw a diver just sitting on top of the coral. Now alot of the tourist aren't going to figure it out that the coral isn't real, but I thought it set a very bad example. You should set a good example, whether the coral is real or not. This aquarium didn't mention one thing about conversation (although I hear the guidebook said something) obviously they don't mind if they are teaching folks that its ok to sit on coral heads.
And then there was this tank of horseshoe crabs. You could pick them up out of the water and touch them and stuff, if you had trouble getting one, an employeee was there to pick them up for you. I can't imagine the amount of stress that this puts on the crab. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for hands on learning stuff, but I thikn that they were going about this the wrong way. I didn't see the need to take the crabs out of the water.
Ok, I know this rant has gone on long enough. I'm sure those of you that know me, know tha I don't rant unless something really bothers me. I'm curious has to how you guys feel about this, based on what I have written.
http://www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com/
I will never go to this place again, and I'm curious as to you guy's opinions of what I saw there.
They have a shark tank there with one of those tubes that folks walk thru so they can see the fish and sharks. While I was there they had 3 divers in the tank. One diver was cleaning the walkway tube from insdie the tank and the other 2 divers were the 'safety divers'. By safety divers i mean that they carried big 3 foot long poles that they used to harrass the sharks with. Well I saw it as harrassing. I asked a guy that worked there and he said they were keeping the sharks away from the diver that was cleaning. Everytime a shark (they were mostly sand tigers) would come near a diver (at least 3 -4 feet away) the diver would take the stick and shove it in the sharks face near his eye and nose area and 'guided' the shark away. The worker there could not answer me when I asked how many shark vs diver incidents hey had had to start such a rule. He tried to b.s. me with something like, well the sharks know its their tank and they don't like the divers in there. Well, I would think that the sharks would get used to the divers in the tank, since they are in there several times a day.
But the whole 'to protect the divers' story fell thru when I saw the stick toting diver no where near the diver cleaning, doing the same thing, harrassing the sand tigers, especially when tourist would gather around the tank to watch. It was all show! I don't agree with it and I didn't like it. I left. I don't support stuff like that. I've seen divers in shark tanks before (ie..The Living Seas at EPCOT) and I have never seen divers carry sticks to ward off the sharks.
Oh and then to top it off, ok, first I know its not real coral in the tank, but I saw a diver just sitting on top of the coral. Now alot of the tourist aren't going to figure it out that the coral isn't real, but I thought it set a very bad example. You should set a good example, whether the coral is real or not. This aquarium didn't mention one thing about conversation (although I hear the guidebook said something) obviously they don't mind if they are teaching folks that its ok to sit on coral heads.
And then there was this tank of horseshoe crabs. You could pick them up out of the water and touch them and stuff, if you had trouble getting one, an employeee was there to pick them up for you. I can't imagine the amount of stress that this puts on the crab. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for hands on learning stuff, but I thikn that they were going about this the wrong way. I didn't see the need to take the crabs out of the water.
Ok, I know this rant has gone on long enough. I'm sure those of you that know me, know tha I don't rant unless something really bothers me. I'm curious has to how you guys feel about this, based on what I have written.
