Weakened finances

Hulking fitness chain permanently closes 12 Houston gyms due to COVID-19

24 Hour Fitness says its in bad shape due to the novel coronavirus.

Still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24 Hour Fitness chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 15 and has permanently closed more than 130 locations in the U.S., including 12 in the Houston area.

The 12 Houston-area gyms that have shut down permanently are:

25632 U.S. Hwy. 290, Cypress
130 W. Parkwood Ave., Friendswood
4425 FM 1960 West, Houston
12708 Northwest Frwy., Houston
19734 Saums Rd. Houston
21614 Tomball Pkwy., Houston
5721 Westheimer Rd., Houston
7068 FM 1960 East, Humble
1550 S. Mason Rd., Katy
2765 Gulf Frwy. South, League City
5946 Fairmont Pkwy., Pasadena
10860 Kuykendahl Rd., The Woodlands

Twenty-two 24 Hour Fitness gyms in the Houston area have reopened or are in the process of reopening.

“If it were not for COVID-19 and its devastating effects, we would not be filing for Chapter 11. With that said, we intend to use the process to strengthen the future of 24 Hour Fitness for our team and club members, as well as our stakeholders,” Tony Ueber, CEO of San Ramon, California-based 24 Hour Fitness, says in a release.

In a letter to customers, Ueber says the gyms that have been shut down permanently were either outdated or were close to other 24 Hour Fitness locations. The company still operates about 300 gyms in the U.S.

In May, 24 Hour Fitness rival Gold’s Gym International, based in Dallas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As a result of its financial troubles, Gold’s shuttered one of its Austin-area locations in May.

Aside from 12 gyms in the Houston area, 24 Hour Fitness has permanently closed three locations in the Austin area and 11 in Dallas-Fort Worth.

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what's new at the zoo

Houston Zoo welcomes Kirby, a newly-born Asian elephant

The Houston Zoo Asian elephant herd increased by one last week.

Photo by Kevin Kendrick/Houston Zoo

Kirby is a healthy baby girl elephant!

The Houston Zoo is going to need a very big rattle for its latest addition. On Friday, November 15 at 3 pm, the zoo’s amiable Asian elephant matriarch Shanti, 34, gave birth to a baby girl named Kirby. This is Shanti’s seventh baby with longtime pachyderm boyfriend, Thailand, 58.

Kirby weighed 314 pounds at birth, quite a bit smaller than her older sibling Nelson, born in 2020, and slightly larger than her big sister Joy, born in 2017. Shanti’s pregnancy lasted 21 months, a common length for Asian elephants but still the second longest gestation in the mammal class after their African cousins.

Within six minutes, Kirby was on her feet, and she was walking within a half hour. The birth took place in the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat cow barn, where Shanti and Kirby will spend several more days before being sent out to public viewing.

The Houston Zoo’s elephant breeding program has been a vital part of increasing the Bornean elephant population since it began in 2007. Portions of entrance fees go toward the work of Dr. Nurzhafarina “Farina" Othman, who specializes in local education and activism in Borneo to ease the tensions between humans and elephants. Elephants have been known to decimate crops leading to conflict. Othman’s work has helped landowners in Borneo fund solutions that keep the elephant population alive. The zoo’s support was partially responsible for doubling the Bornean population in 2018.

Elephants have been a part of the Houston Zoo since it was founded. In 2017, the zoo opened the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat, a massive new enclosure with walkways for visitor viewing and pools for the elephants to frolic in and escape the Texas heat. The exhibit includes everything from fountains to a specialized puzzle tree that elephants can blow into for treats.

The zoo has also been on the cutting edge of animal medicine. In June, 40-year-old Asian elephant Tess was given the first ever mRNA vaccine for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) 1A. Baylor College of Medicine pioneered this fight against a particularly deadly disease among elephants. All in all, it has been a big year for the zoo’s biggest residents.

houston zoo elephant