Dead animals• A gekko died in November• A tortoise died in December• A male muntjac, an Asian deer, died in mid-December• Two marmosets died in late December• A tortoise died in early January• A female muntjac died the second week of January• Two snow leopard cubs died or were stillborn in the second week of January• Hank the chimpanzee was found dead Jan. 24.Source: Chattanooga Zoo officials
Chattanooga Zoo officials on Sunday morning announced that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums will have “a progress recheck” in September, and meanwhile the zoo continues as an accredited organization.
“The AZA inspectors found no medical or management connection between six of eight deaths,” that occurred between November and January, zoo spokeswoman Robin Derryberry said in a news release. Derryberry also serves on the Friends of the Zoo board.
She said the inspectors found that two tortoise deaths “appeared to come from substandard winter housing which has now been corrected.”
Two marmosets, a type of monkey, died from “significant liver disease and weight loss that originated or predated the administrative error which caused the animals to go unfed for two days in January.”