A sea lion exhibit remains empty at the Gladys Porter Zoo after sea lions that were being rescued in Washington state died.

The zoo had already sent two refrigerated trucks to transport the 6 sea lions back to Brownsville. More than $10,000 dollars were spent to bring the sea lions to Brownsville, 2 refrigerated trucks, 6 men, plus all expenses. The zoo had also built crates that had to meet specific requirements for transporting marine mammals. They have been without a sea lion exhibit for nearly a year, so getting 6 sea lions for the zoo was perfect, but finding out that the mammals had died last Monday came as a complete shocker.

Now the question remains, what happened to the sea lions? Director of the Gladys Porter Zoo, Patrick Burchfield wants to know what could have possibly triggered the death of these mammals. The trappings operations are at a halt until the investigation is complete.

The zoo is hoping to hear the trapping operations are back so they can go back and get the sea lions they originally went for, but they'll have to come up with additional cash to make that trip again.