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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsworld famous Monterey Bay Aquarium in dire straits due to loss of summer season
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-31/monterey-bay-aquarium-coronavirus-closureThe aquarium missed its entire summer tourism season, and its finances are in such dire straits that more than a third of its staff has been laid off or furloughed.
The visitors are gone. The revenue is gone, said Julie Packard, the aquariums executive director. Meantime, the animals and exhibits are doing great.
Outside, three wildfires have been burning in Monterey County, causing at least one staff member to lose a home and others to evacuate. Animals sensitive to smoke and ash falling from the orange-tinged sky had to be pulled indoors.
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Faced with a projected loss this year of some $45 million, the aquarium laid off or furloughed 220 of its 580 employees. Others had their pay cut through the end of the year.
Because the nonprofit had more than 500 employees, it did not qualify for a forgivable coronavirus aid loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, Packard said.
It has been pleading with donors to give more and scaled back conservation programs. It cut 70% of the budget for its conservation and science department, which, among other things, works to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and combat the negative effects of climate change.
littlemissmartypants
(22,417 posts)The Monterey Bay Aquarium is indeed, world class. Like the NC zoo is. All of these places need to do a better job of establishing and maintaining the financial support for the creatures in their care, in perpetuity.
Here's what an aquarium in NC did.
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/08/21/grand-total-nc-aquarium-finds-wishing-coins-help-care-animals/
Grand total: N.C. aquarium finds $8,500+ in wishing coins to help care for animals
PINE KNOLL SHORES, N.C. (WBTV) - A North Carolina aquarium tallied up 14 years of wishing coins that were tossed into its waterfall.
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores said its transforming the forgotten change into cold, hard cash, and using it to care for its animals.
The aquarium has been closed since March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During that time, the public aquarium said in a Facebook post that its staff turned off its 30-foot-tall Smoky Mountain waterfall and rounded up all of the change visitors had tossed in.
More at the link.
❤ lmsp