Malfunction At Dubuque Aquarium Kills All But One Stingray

Her name is Penny, and she is one lucky stingray. Penny is the lone survivor after a tragic accident at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque.

Officials with the museum told KWWL that they are coping with the loss of eight stingrays after an incident last week. Last Wednesday, the filtration system for the aquarium's stingray touch tank failed in the middle of the night, oversaturating the water with oxygen. On top of that, the alarm that they had in place for malfunctions like that failed to work. By the time staff arrived the next morning it was too late for most of the stingrays in the exhibit.

Only one stingray remains at the Delta stingray exhibit, according to KWWL. That stingray is Penny. Officials say that they also have two other stingrays that they are currently holding in a backup tank, and that they are reaching out to other aquariums to see if they have stingrays that could be brought to Dubuque. Andy Allison, Vice President of Living Collections and Education, told KWWL that this had been very hard on the staff.

These are some of the hardest days that we ever deal with. I mean we, all of the aquarists get into this industry because we care about animals and we care about the environment.

In the meantime, we're lucky that we still have Penny. The lone survivor still swimming by herself at the aquarium in Dubuque. I'm sure she'd love it if you'd come and visit her sometime soon.

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