Many people take a superstitious view for the New Year, hoping that whatever bad luck they had in the previous year is left behind on December 31st, while January 1st brings better things. Others resolve to make their own luck; New Year's Day is typically when people lay out resolutions to make themselves a better person for the following year.
I have been known to put too much stock into getting a new year off on the right foot. In 2018, half-an-hour into the new year, I remember thinking, "Well, that's it, this year is shot already."
If anyone is sharing that viewpoint this year, it's doubtlessly the keepers of the Germany's Krefeld Zoo, where a devastating fire (believed to have been caused by fire lanterns from a nearby celebration) burned down the primate house, killing many beloved animals (a tragedy eerily reminiscent of the Philadelphia Zoo's Christmas Eve Primate House fire several years ago). The anguish that they must be feeling now is unspeakable, and I feel devastated for them. I'm sure that they are already heartily sick of 2020, if they've even had a chance to breathe and notice what year it is now.
On the other side of the globe, the keepers of the Mogo Wildlife Park in Australia are breathing a cautious sigh of relief as fierce wildfires bypassed their own zoo, missing them by a hair. So fearful were they of the flames that the zoo director loaded up some of the smaller animals, including monkeys and red pandas, and drove them to his house for safety. Even though the zoo was spared, the surrounding wild animals weren't - the death toll on native wildlife must be extraordinary. Still, for the keepers who stood to lose all of their animals, their relief must be palpable.
Zoo and aquarium staff are always walking a line between disaster and miracle, and the balance can go either way. Things can change in a matter of seconds... whether it's the middle of the typical workweek, or minutes until midnight on New Year's Eve. The date on the calendar is meaningless... which, in a sense, means that there's nothing special about January 1st. Any day can be the start of a new year. Things can always get better. And for the keepers at Krefeld Zoo, I sure hope they do...
Photo: Mark Dumont, from Cincinnati Zoo facebook
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