A U.S. aquarium has made good use of nearly 14 years’ worth of old wishes in an effort to stay financially afloat during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, CBS News reported.
Soon to be entering its sixth consecutive month of mandated closure, the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores has announced that they’ve collected all the coins from the bottom of its 30-foot tall “Smoky Mountain” waterfall to be put towards keeping the facility open.
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COVID-19 has affected everyone differently, namely businesses.
Though small businesses are taking perhaps the largest toll, aquariums and zoos are also feeling the stress. Not only do they have to pay for the typical costs such as rent and utilities, but they also have hundreds of animals to feed and care for.
In a stroke of genius, North Carolina Aquarium came up with a clever way to earn back some funds during their closure.
The public aquarium turned off the popular waterfall so they could dredge up what amounted to nearly 100 gallons’ worth of wishing coins.
In a Facebook post , the facility explained all those coins were then “cleaned and sorted and will go toward the general care of the aquarium and animals during this time.”
The aquarium also encouraged everyone to try and guess how much money was collected from the waterfall in the comments, with some people estimating a few thousand while others believed the total to actually be in the millions.
A more recent update from the aquarium revealed just how laborious the job of cleaning and sorting the coins is turning out to be for staff.
“It’s taking longer than anticipated to sort, clean and count coins,” the post reads. “Staff is still sifting through the almost 14 years worth of coins from the waterfall. We’ve sent a portion of them to the automated coin counter at a local bank. It took about four hours to get through nine crates of coins!”
The aquarium said they will be revealing the total monetary value of the wishing coins some time this week.
The aquarium, along with other state-operated North Carolina aquariums, has been closed since March 17 in response to the outbreak.
According to the NC Aquariums website , the continued closures are in line with the state’s Safer At Home Phase 2 plan, which was extended this month and is expected to remain in place until September 11.
“The earliest the North Carolina Aquariums could welcome guests back would be sometime after that date, when the state moves into Phase 3,” the website reads. “However, no date has yet been set.”
In the meantime, aquariums all across the state, including the Pine Knoll Shores facility, have said essential staff will remain onsite to care for the animals.
Additional staff members are also onsite, with others are working remotely from home, to “ensure the Aquarium will be ready to re-open and welcome guests back once this critical situation has subsided.”
During their closure, they’re providing numerous educational online programs to keep people learning.
From behind-the-scenes tours to virtual animal encounters, they’re doing all they can to provide the fun of an aquarium visit right from the comfort of our own homes.
They’re not the only facility doing this either, with zoos and aquariums across the country coming up with their own alternative forms of engagement.
Jennette’s Pier, for example, even has physical activity kits they mail out that are to be paired with online courses, touching on a variety of topics.
“The activity kit gives a hands-on experience while engaging with our staff. Even though we are far apart we are connected through this immersive virtual field trip,” said education curator for Jennette’s Pier, Christin Brown.
And of course, despite their closure, North Caroline Aquarium is still doing incredible work in the world of animal conservation.
Just last month they released the two sea turtles above after they completed a rehabilitation program.
It’s clear they’re still taking excellent care of their animals, and hopefully the coins they retrieved will aid in maintaining that level of love!
