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Description

Granite and Obsidian, the two Triceratops looking healthy.

It took just a few days once the capture team on Nublar were alerted to find the two missing Triceratops. However, unlike the Struthiomimus flock we found, the Triceratops were apparently in a very bad way. So bad that the Nublar team had the two animals transported to Matanceros immediately for urgent medical attention. There was a hive of activity around the Ranger Station, where the two animals had been wheeled in unconscious to see Suzanne and her vet team. Even from a distance I could tell that the animals were in a bad way.

They both had different colouration to their skins. One mostly black with some light grey stripes and the other a light grey silver with dark grey stripes. They both looked oddly thin, to the point where I could see their rib cages. One of them, the black one, had a major swelling to one of its feet, and it was oozing a foul gunge. Suzanne was already busy giving orders. Lambert, who was ofcourse concerned about sercurity while these animals were here explained to me how the Nublar ACU team had found them.

Like the Struthio flock, Dua’s Triceratops had been in a specially sealed off paddock. However unlike the flock, whose omnivorous diet meant they could survive on pretty much anything, the Triceratops needed constant feeding of particular vegetation types. The paddock they were sealed in had run out of suitable vegetation and the animals had ended up beginning to starve. The animals couldn’t breach the fencing, that had been built with their aggressive tendencies in mind, and as such were stuck. The injury to the black one’s foot was already present when they found the creatures. It was clearly infected but the cause was unknown.

While hearing the tale I observed Lambert. He almost sounded sympathetic for the dinosaurs. It didn’t last long, he quickly shifted to his usual stern manner when discussing with me the security arrangements but it was atleast a hint that perhaps Lambert was a human being after all. True to form Sarah had arrived with the sliding of locked brakes on her jeep, had walked right past us already rolling up sleeves to help Suzanne. Dua was with her, but stayed out of the way watching. In Dua I saw a look of great sadness. And a sense of responsibility for these animals.

I left them to their work. Saving the lives of the Triceratops was far more important than talking to me. Opposite the ranger station the flock of Struthio observed me with beady eyes briefly before going back to wading in their pond taking advantage of the soft plants that grew beneath. I admit that I myself was feeling a little gutted by the condition of the Triceratops. We had been having such good luck so far that I suppose it was inevitable we would have a challenge eventually but still…seeing those great animals laying on the table skin and bones…it was still saddening.

However when I got back to the operations centre there was worse news waiting. Finch was there, and he got straight to the point. Financially the operation was starting to have problems. While the revenue coming in from scientists and the few museums that were eager to come observe the animals we had was just about enough to keep us breaking even, Finch reported that the chances were it wouldn’t be in the weeks and months ahead. We needed to bring in more finding and fast. And he had already come up with an idea.

While it had been on the news that the operation on Matanceros had been going on, in general the public wasn’t really aware of what we were doing. Finch’s idea was to use the Triceratops to tug on the heart strings of the public a little. A simple media campaign was dreamed up…reveal the state of the Triceratops to the public and we hoped that social media would do the rest.

At that point neither of use realised just how wiling the public were to get behind the cause. The release of the small news report about the Triceratops revealed how bad their conditions were (with some attached self filmed video.) At first the general public seemed a little conflicted how to respond. There were some who agreed with Malcom’s remarks that they should be allowed to die, while others saw us as willing to take responsibility for looking after the creatures we created. The arguments were very much stimulated by the Triceratops and their condition. It brought the issues of Nublar and the dinosaurs back to public attention.

While the arguments raged the condition of our newest arrivals was still critical. 36 hours after they arrived I went to see a very tired looking Suzanne who was sat in between the two huge plinths where the Triceratops lay. This in itself was a first for me…being this close to the dinosaurs. Suzanne seemed so at ease with it. She was gently stroking the gently rising and falling chest of the black Triceratops.

“How are they?” I asked as I entered the room.

“Alive…but still not over the hump. This one especially.”

I stood near her listening to the two creatures breathing deeply. The black Triceratops seemed to have a more gravely tone to her breaths. Suzanne explained by showing me what was laying in the sink. A piece of twisted metal covered in blood. I was able to see that it was actually a piece of metal fencing wire. Suzanne explained.

“I pulled that out her foot. I’m not sure how long it had been in there…but the wound was heavily infected. The infection was spreading round her body. She’s on some pretty heavy anti-biotics right now but whether she pulls through…I really don’t know. As for her companion…not in as serious condition but still pretty bad. Malnurished mostly.”

I nodded quietly listening.

“When will you be more certain on their condition?”

“Another day maybe? We will know more by then.”

I hesitated a little before asking her something else.

“Finch has been trying to get the plight of these two out into the public. I think it would be good if you could maybe record him something…you know the condition of these animals better than we do.”

She looked at me and frowned slightly.

“Sounds a bit exploitative to me…”

I sighed slightly but explained the situation to her. She listened and was silent for a while afterwards but finally agreed to a brief video recording. Once done it was sent off by Finch as a short update. Seeing the Triceratops and their conditions on TV seemed to help our cause. It wasn’t long before we saw the effect.

At first it was a small but dedicated group of individuals setting up social media groups…mostly just declaring their support for us more than anything else. Finch had taken the opportunity to get us our own Matanceros pages on a number of popular websites. The support from the public was nice and further helped me feel confident that what we were doing was right. However it wasn’t long before people were asking us how they could help.

This had to be done carefully. We couldn’t appear like a charity. Finch, Suzanne and Harding all came up with different unique ideas to get the public onboard with our work. Even Lambert got involved. We created a website for all their ideas. Suzanna suggested a simple fund to help with the medical costs of the animals. Harding brought in the idea of dinosaur postcards and posters of our saved species so far, as well as a ‘buy your dinosaur a treat’ system. People could buy a number of different food stuffs for their favourites. Buying the Baryonyx new fish species became oddly popular.

Lambert got involved with his ‘sponsor a fence’ idea…and while it was odd that people were wiling to pay to have their names engraved on the fences around the paddocks, it all helped to bring in just a bit more money to help our increasing costs. It wasn’t just online however. Letters came in from all around the world as the plight of the sick Triceratops became bigger news. The public were determined to see these two get through it. One day while looking over the fans social media pages for our animals I saw they had even given our new guests a name.

The black Triceratops had been nicknamed ‘Obsidian’ and the grey Triceratops ‘Granite’. The names stuck and our new guests gained their permanent names. This also helped our public fund-raising campaigns. The public were more likely to vote for something with a name after name. Our own social media pages gave the operation a chance to explain some of the things we were doing and while the main people at the park were initially hesitant to put their faces out into the public sphere, they soon saw the advantages. And it wasn’t just the heads of departments that wanted to get involved. One of our early hits on Youtube were the Ranger video’s, showing the public what they were involved with (which also appealed to the petrol headed viewers). Suzanne spoke about the care of the creatures and Lambert explained the various security methods. I admit seeing Lambert trying to do pieces to camera while not appearing like a robot was funny.

Granite and Obsidian would be released into a small holding paddock as they recovered slowly. Able to atleast walk and eat, the two Triceratops would still need careful care and attention until they could return to the general population.

Description

Granite and Obsidian, the two Triceratops looking healthy.

It took just a few days once the capture team on Nublar were alerted to find the two missing Triceratops. However, unlike the Struthiomimus flock we found, the Triceratops were apparently in a very bad way. So bad that the Nublar team had the two animals transported to Matanceros immediately for urgent medical attention. There was a hive of activity around the Ranger Station, where the two animals had been wheeled in unconscious to see Suzanne and her vet team. Even from a distance I could tell that the animals were in a bad way.

They both had different colouration to their skins. One mostly black with some light grey stripes and the other a light grey silver with dark grey stripes. They both looked oddly thin, to the point where I could see their rib cages. One of them, the black one, had a major swelling to one of its feet, and it was oozing a foul gunge. Suzanne was already busy giving orders. Lambert, who was ofcourse concerned about sercurity while these animals were here explained to me how the Nublar ACU team had found them.

Like the Struthio flock, Dua’s Triceratops had been in a specially sealed off paddock. However unlike the flock, whose omnivorous diet meant they could survive on pretty much anything, the Triceratops needed constant feeding of particular vegetation types. The paddock they were sealed in had run out of suitable vegetation and the animals had ended up beginning to starve. The animals couldn’t breach the fencing, that had been built with their aggressive tendencies in mind, and as such were stuck. The injury to the black one’s foot was already present when they found the creatures. It was clearly infected but the cause was unknown.

While hearing the tale I observed Lambert. He almost sounded sympathetic for the dinosaurs. It didn’t last long, he quickly shifted to his usual stern manner when discussing with me the security arrangements but it was atleast a hint that perhaps Lambert was a human being after all. True to form Sarah had arrived with the sliding of locked brakes on her jeep, had walked right past us already rolling up sleeves to help Suzanne. Dua was with her, but stayed out of the way watching. In Dua I saw a look of great sadness. And a sense of responsibility for these animals.

I left them to their work. Saving the lives of the Triceratops was far more important than talking to me. Opposite the ranger station the flock of Struthio observed me with beady eyes briefly before going back to wading in their pond taking advantage of the soft plants that grew beneath. I admit that I myself was feeling a little gutted by the condition of the Triceratops. We had been having such good luck so far that I suppose it was inevitable we would have a challenge eventually but still…seeing those great animals laying on the table skin and bones…it was still saddening.

However when I got back to the operations centre there was worse news waiting. Finch was there, and he got straight to the point. Financially the operation was starting to have problems. While the revenue coming in from scientists and the few museums that were eager to come observe the animals we had was just about enough to keep us breaking even, Finch reported that the chances were it wouldn’t be in the weeks and months ahead. We needed to bring in more finding and fast. And he had already come up with an idea.

While it had been on the news that the operation on Matanceros had been going on, in general the public wasn’t really aware of what we were doing. Finch’s idea was to use the Triceratops to tug on the heart strings of the public a little. A simple media campaign was dreamed up…reveal the state of the Triceratops to the public and we hoped that social media would do the rest.

At that point neither of use realised just how wiling the public were to get behind the cause. The release of the small news report about the Triceratops revealed how bad their conditions were (with some attached self filmed video.) At first the general public seemed a little conflicted how to respond. There were some who agreed with Malcom’s remarks that they should be allowed to die, while others saw us as willing to take responsibility for looking after the creatures we created. The arguments were very much stimulated by the Triceratops and their condition. It brought the issues of Nublar and the dinosaurs back to public attention.

While the arguments raged the condition of our newest arrivals was still critical. 36 hours after they arrived I went to see a very tired looking Suzanne who was sat in between the two huge plinths where the Triceratops lay. This in itself was a first for me…being this close to the dinosaurs. Suzanne seemed so at ease with it. She was gently stroking the gently rising and falling chest of the black Triceratops.

“How are they?” I asked as I entered the room.

“Alive…but still not over the hump. This one especially.”

I stood near her listening to the two creatures breathing deeply. The black Triceratops seemed to have a more gravely tone to her breaths. Suzanne explained by showing me what was laying in the sink. A piece of twisted metal covered in blood. I was able to see that it was actually a piece of metal fencing wire. Suzanne explained.

“I pulled that out her foot. I’m not sure how long it had been in there…but the wound was heavily infected. The infection was spreading round her body. She’s on some pretty heavy anti-biotics right now but whether she pulls through…I really don’t know. As for her companion…not in as serious condition but still pretty bad. Malnurished mostly.”

I nodded quietly listening.

“When will you be more certain on their condition?”

“Another day maybe? We will know more by then.”

I hesitated a little before asking her something else.

“Finch has been trying to get the plight of these two out into the public. I think it would be good if you could maybe record him something…you know the condition of these animals better than we do.”

She looked at me and frowned slightly.

“Sounds a bit exploitative to me…”

I sighed slightly but explained the situation to her. She listened and was silent for a while afterwards but finally agreed to a brief video recording. Once done it was sent off by Finch as a short update. Seeing the Triceratops and their conditions on TV seemed to help our cause. It wasn’t long before we saw the effect.

At first it was a small but dedicated group of individuals setting up social media groups…mostly just declaring their support for us more than anything else. Finch had taken the opportunity to get us our own Matanceros pages on a number of popular websites. The support from the public was nice and further helped me feel confident that what we were doing was right. However it wasn’t long before people were asking us how they could help.

This had to be done carefully. We couldn’t appear like a charity. Finch, Suzanne and Harding all came up with different unique ideas to get the public onboard with our work. Even Lambert got involved. We created a website for all their ideas. Suzanna suggested a simple fund to help with the medical costs of the animals. Harding brought in the idea of dinosaur postcards and posters of our saved species so far, as well as a ‘buy your dinosaur a treat’ system. People could buy a number of different food stuffs for their favourites. Buying the Baryonyx new fish species became oddly popular.

Lambert got involved with his ‘sponsor a fence’ idea…and while it was odd that people were wiling to pay to have their names engraved on the fences around the paddocks, it all helped to bring in just a bit more money to help our increasing costs. It wasn’t just online however. Letters came in from all around the world as the plight of the sick Triceratops became bigger news. The public were determined to see these two get through it. One day while looking over the fans social media pages for our animals I saw they had even given our new guests a name.

The black Triceratops had been nicknamed ‘Obsidian’ and the grey Triceratops ‘Granite’. The names stuck and our new guests gained their permanent names. This also helped our public fund-raising campaigns. The public were more likely to vote for something with a name after name. Our own social media pages gave the operation a chance to explain some of the things we were doing and while the main people at the park were initially hesitant to put their faces out into the public sphere, they soon saw the advantages. And it wasn’t just the heads of departments that wanted to get involved. One of our early hits on Youtube were the Ranger video’s, showing the public what they were involved with (which also appealed to the petrol headed viewers). Suzanne spoke about the care of the creatures and Lambert explained the various security methods. I admit seeing Lambert trying to do pieces to camera while not appearing like a robot was funny.

Granite and Obsidian would be released into a small holding paddock as they recovered slowly. Able to atleast walk and eat, the two Triceratops would still need careful care and attention until they could return to the general population.