Sandy damages aquarium, but animals survive storm

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — As superstorm Sandy’s furious waves devastated the New Jersey coastline, eight caretakers worked to protect animals living a few feet above the storm surge.

Despite the evacuation of Point Pleasant Beach, the caretakers, called “Team Sandy,” stayed to protect the animals that know Jenkinson’s Aquarium as their home.

When the power failed in the building about 6 p.m. on Oct. 29, the animal handlers rushed to hook tank aerators to batteries and generators.

“The very first concern is to make sure there was air or dissolved oxygen in the tank ... (so) that these animals can continue to breathe,” said Cindy Claus, director of the aquarium.

The aerators kept alive the aquarium’s assortment of sharks, corals and fish.

While they worked, the Atlantic Ocean filled the building’s basement, destroying holding tanks, pumps, filters and a quarantine room, Claus said.

“The entire contents of the basement were washed out by the ocean into the parking lot and adjoining neighborhood,” she said.

But the flooding never reached the ground level floor, the aquarium director said.

Continued:  http://www.app.com/viewart/20121118/NJNEWS/311180046/Sandy-damages-aquarium-animals-survive-storm