What killed the dinosaurs? Apparently, an electrical fire. Well, that's the case for one dinosaur named Chicken at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience.
On Thursday, March 22, the large animatronic T-Rex (affectionately called "Chicken") at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience in Canon City, unfortunately, met his demise after an electrical shortage caused the dino to burst into flames. Poor Chicken didn't even see it coming ... But, at least he went out in a blaze of glory! "We always knew T-Rex had a temper but, today he blew his top," the Experience said in a Facebook post. "There was an unfortunate (and rare) electrical issue with our mighty T-Rex and he is no longer. You might even say...extinct." Visitors watched as Chicken cooked for about 10 minutes until he was deemed well-done. Some even say that, at times, the T-Rex breathed fire like a dragon!
Check out the before and after photos of Chicken below:
[gallery type="rectangular" size="large" ids="35290,35289"]
The 24-foot-tall T-Rex was one of 16 dinosaurs at the Dinosaur Wild Walk exhibit. Luckily, none of the other dinos were taken out by the fire. The staff at the Dinosaur Experience does hope to replace Chicken with a new T-Rex as soon as possible!
In the meantime, portions of the museum and ropes courses have been closed off to guests. Though they weren't damaged by the fire, the staff wants everything inspected before reopening.
So I've only got one question for you: how do you like your "Chicken": fried or extra crispy?