Blind seal dies after getting trapped in drain at Winnipeg zoo

Officials with Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo are mourning the death of a harbour seal that somehow became stuck in an underwater drain this week.

Divers at the zoo foundthe body of theseal, which was one of two blind rescued seals at the zoo,on Monday.

The animal somehow got into the drain and was not able to free itself, saidBrian Joseph, theAssiniboinePark Zoo's director of zoological operations,

Joseph said zoo staff and volunteers are "very sad" to learn the seal has died.

"This was a little animal that was not releasable it couldn't have survived in the wild and we were happy to provide him a home," Joseph told CBC News on Tuesday.

"But the animals are a lot like kids: we do our best to protect them, to keep them safe, but sometimes our best efforts aren't good enough."

'Corrective action' taken

Joseph said harbour seals hunt for food by rooting around in rocks and it's possible that this particular seal got its nose stuck against the drain, which operates using suction.

"We just don't know, and we never will know," he said.

"We've taken corrective action. That particular line is isolated, no longer functional."

The two seals had been transferred to the Winnipeg zoo this past summer from the Vancouver Aquarium.

It's the second death of an animal at Assiniboine Park Zoo in recent months.

In September, a 19-year-old tiger named Baikal was killed after he went through an unlocked gate into an enclosure housing two younger male tigers. One of the tigers attacked Baikal, killing him.

• Tiger attack at Winnipeg zoo needs independent probe, group says
• High school students saw fatal tiger fight at Winnipeg zoo

In that incident, the gate was left unlocked by mistake, zoo officials admitted at the time.

The zoo has also had to deal with wolves digging their way into the polar bears' enclosure and bears chewing through silicone sealant in the Journey to Churchill exhibit's underwater tunnels.

• Wolves dig out of new digs at Journey to Churchill exhibit
• Polar bears chew through silicone in Winnipeg zoo's underwater tunnel