Natural Disasters and US Zoos

T

tschandler71

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
So much was written about Andrew and Zoo Miami, anyone know any articles or stories related to the April 2011 tornado outbreak and how US zoos handled it?

Birmingham, Montgomery, Atlanta, St. Louis, Jackson, Memphis, Nashville, North Carolina, Riverbanks, Gulf Breeze, Dallas, Little Rock were just a few of the facilities off the top of my head in the effected areas.

Being from Dekalb County Alabama, April 27th 2011 was probably the worst day of my life. Curious to see anything that has been written about it.

Other disasters (Katrina comes to mind) would be interesting to talk about as well.
 
The interesting thing with natural disasters in zoos is that they tend to trigger animal births because of the drop in pressure. This is why during the flood a few years back in Nashville they experienced the birth of Eurasian Lynx kittens and a Baird's Tapir calf at the zoo.
 
This isn’t an American example but last year there was massive flooding at the Calgary Zoo. For some dumb reason the zoo was built mostly on an island in the middle of a river. They had put flood barriers in place after a minor flood years ago. The flooding that happened in Calgary was the worst the city had ever seen.
All zoo employees were mobilized once the zoo knew they were going to have flooding... no one expected it to be as bad as it was. The zoo immediately moved animals with higher level holdings like the gorillas to the highest spaces available. Other animals who could be moved into those areas too were put there. The zoo had to move others to the mainland, higher elevation, health centre which by the time the waters crested was packed. Any animals that could be shipped to their offsite breeding center were moved, like the zebras. All of their big cats had to be knocked out and transported. That’s 2 snow leopards, 6 amur tigers, and 4 lions. The evacuation was made based on a strict protocol put in well before the flood. The keepers in the African section left to help in other areas and came back a couple of hours later to find tons of it under water. They went to rescue the meerkats who were terrified and refused to leave a log they were huddled together in. The keepers had to left it up and break a window in a food prep area to get them and their log out. They had to break into the hippo and giraffe holding. Male hippo Lobi was upset and swimming outside of his pool! The giraffes were in water up the their bellies! The keepers had to put on wetsuits and plunge into the icy water with two dangerous hippos and 2 terrified giraffes who they had to try and get out of the water. They risked their lives using picnic tables to herd the giraffes out of the building and toward the nearest high ground they could safely isolate them, which turned out to be a bridge. With Lobi free of his pen they had to use heavy equipment to build a barricade against the doors of the building and their director of animal welfare sat by all night keeping an eye and a rifle on the hippos in case they tried to leave the building.

They lost a peacock, the cichlids which swam with the hippos and some other small animals but everyone else survived including the giraffes which were listed in critical condition following their harrowing ordeal. The fact that losses were so minimal was a true testament to the keepers dedication, devotion and courage. A similar trait I think we could find at any zoo amongst its keepers and other staff.

The zoo was devastated though. It took a month before the zoo partially reopened and 5 before it fully reopened. In the initial days they had to beg, borrow and plead to get food and medicine for the animals because their refrigeration system had been knocked out. All food was spoiled. Thankfully everyone who could step up did. The zoos facilities were either destroyed or caked in mud. They had to demolish their South American and Australian buildings. All those animals were rehomed permanently across Canada. Their big African themed restaurant had to be completely gutted. The staff worked hard in those initial weeks to get as many of the animals back in their homes as possible and out of the cramped conditions at the health center. The cost of repairs was estimated at $50 million and the zoo lost another $10 million in expected revenue. The community rallied around the zoo though. Other facilities offered to host events the zoo had scheduled if they could. They gave zoo members free admission to their sites. People all across Calgary began hosting fundraisers and giving money to the zoo to help rebuild. Kids asked for donations to the zoo instead of getting birthday gifts. It’s amazing to go back on their facebook page and see how people have rallied behind the zoo, particularly in those initial days and weeks.

Here are some of the interesting articles from the flood. Look for tons of pictures of the devastation on google.

Calgary Zoo: Inside story of the June flood | Calgary Herald

Photos: The 15 most stunning photos from the flooded Calgary Zoo

Calgary Zoo fully reopens after flood damage - Calgary - CBC News
 
TZfan opened this thread to the Americas, so now i can participate.
Last Good Friday I was at los Coyotes zoo in Mexico City, when an eathquake hit at 9:30 a.m. here in mexico city earthquakes are common and many drills are made. It was 7.5 on the scale so it was strong. Well the alarms sounded and all we people gathered near the administration building. the eathquake was not long and off we were in a few minutes. Some nocturnal animals were awake like the skunks, foxes and bobcats. The pinioned military macaws abandoned there branches and were on the ground for some time. Smart birds. In the large free flight aviary the birds were singing loudly as if it was six in the morning. The coyotes however active, did not howl at all. It was an interesting event.
 
On the one hand Carlos55 thats a very cool experience to have. Not many people get to see those things. On the other how terrifying.
 
There was an interesting element i forgot to mention about being in an earthquake on good friday at the Los Coyotes zoo. In mexico city, like in other cities on earthquake prone areas, the public buildings have an alarm system installed that detects quakes with 2 or 3 minutes in advance. The alarm sounded correctly that day a few minutes before the quake. The alarm went off before any of the animals started responding. I could not say that any animals anticipated the quake because the alarms sounded first.
 
Thats very interesting about the alarms. Not living in a normal quake zone its something that would easily terrify me, especially one that powerful. I've only experienced 3 in my life and they were weak and quite far away. Two I didn't notice which my family teases me about because clearly Im oblivious and the third I actually felt but wasnt sure that it wasnt just rumbles from some blasting going on in the area at the time. I suppose you get use to it but thats just scary.

Perhaps the animals have stopped reacting as much because they are used to the quakes too. They know they are safe and dont have to worry? I dont know.
 
Yes, as humans we do learn to depend on the alarm systems and the drills. I have read that Toyko and other major japanese cities also have an alarm system . I do not know about san francisco, but i suppose it does have one.
What was interesting about the my experience on the Good friday quake, was that i had heard that animals are more sensitive to natural disaters than humans. In reality, technological systems are now much more sensitive and accurate than any biological
organism may ever be.
 
carlos55 said:
Yes, as humans we do learn to depend on the alarm systems and the drills. I have read that Toyko and other major japanese cities also have an alarm system . I do not know about san francisco, but i suppose it does have one.
What was interesting about the my experience on the Good friday quake, was that i had heard that animals are more sensitive to natural disaters than humans. In reality, technological systems are now much more sensitive and accurate than any biological
organism may ever be.
Click to expand...

I don't like to depend too much on tech, but I think that any prudent zoo would have drills for all manner of emergencies (incl. natural disasters). This way if/when it does happen everyone knows what to do.

I remember reading that right before the San Fransisco Earthquake in 1906 a lot of cows had their calves beforehand. I wonder if this was for real or just a tall tale.
 
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