Ron Magill of @ZooMiami: Sometimes the stress of moving an animal is more dangerous to the animal than the hurricane https://t.co/1CGyGfTTYq
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) September 7, 2017
As thousands of Florida’s human residents flee the state ahead of Hurricane Irma, the state’s zoological population is hunkering down and preparing for the weather.
Thousands of animals at Florida’s more than 50 zoos, aquariums and animal parks are being placed in specialized shelters to ride out the storm, while zookeepers stockpile necessary equipment and supplies to ride out Irma, which downgraded to a category 3 on Saturday.
“Things are busy around here,” an official at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo told BuzzFeed News. “We made the decision to close early this week to allow our team more time to prepare the zoo and our animals.”
Many zoo officials echoed the concern that the stress from evacuating animals could be more deadly than the storm itself.
“We don’t evacuate our animals since hurricanes can change direction at the last minute and you run the risk of evacuating to a more dangerous location,” the Miami-Dade Zoological Park and Gardens said in a statement earlier this week. “Furthermore, the stress of moving the animals can be more dangerous than riding out the storm.”
Footage on CNN showed flamingoes, vultures and other birds being herded into safe shelters. Zoo officials say birds are often the most vulnerable during a storm. But most animals can remain in their enclosures.
……
- Discussion
-
Florida zoos prepare for animals to ride out Hurricane Irma https://t.co/NASb2txTwh pic.twitter.com/LnPQESPSwB
— The Hill (@thehill) September 9, 2017
Cheetahs from the zoo in Miami aren't going to try to out-run #HurricaneIrma. https://t.co/h1wPNBa68S @zoomiami
— AP South U.S. Region (@APSouthRegion) September 9, 2017
A flamingo flock at Busch Gardens in Tampa is led to shelter in advance of #HurricaneIrma https://t.co/mRiMKPMH41 pic.twitter.com/9Inf01BEXy
— CNN (@CNN) September 10, 2017
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.