Volunteers gather in Tampa to protect one of Florida’s most vulnerable populations from hurricane milton: animals.
A zoo spokesperson said the so-called “ride-out team” of about a dozen ZooTampa employees — including care staff and a therapist — left the area after leaving the area with the animals left behind and seeking shelter with the frightened animals. Are ready for. ,
They have been working hard over the past 24 hours to move larger animals such as elephants and giraffes into barns built on the site, which are built to withstand major storms, while smaller mammals and birds into the facility’s main buildings. has been discontinued.
“During the storm, a ride-out team composed of animal care, animal health, security, maintenance and horticulture will remain on site to care for the animals, monitor life support systems, manage generators and assess damage ” The spokesperson said.
At the Florida Aquarium, staff had already taken out several animals — including a moon jelly, six snakes, three lizards, three turtles, two alligators, two toads and even a hermit crab.
A flock of nine African penguins was also moved to higher ground Tuesday amid fears of severe flooding from a 12-foot storm surge that devastated the Tampa Bay area.
Thousands of corals had already been relocated to other parts of Florida in anticipation of the coming storm.
During the storm, ride-out staff will monitor the marine animals’ life support systems and manage generators to ensure the aquarium’s filtration systems remain active.
“The safety of our animals is our top priority,” said Roger German, president of the Florida Aquarium.
“And we take every precaution to ensure their well-being during extreme weather events like Hurricane Milton.”
Meanwhile, the team at Crocodile Encounters Reptile Park was racing to prepare its more than 100 crocodiles, alligators and snakes to face the storm.
The park’s owner, John Paner, said the crocodiles and gators were being kept in steel shipping containers with double-bagged snakes. told the Washington Post,
“You could drop a tree on it and there wouldn’t be a problem,” he said of the steel container.
“You have to hope for the best,” Paner said of storm preparations. “And it goes from there.”
Preparations began after millions of residents had already been ordered to evacuate as Milton fluctuated between a Category 4 and 5 hurricane as it headed toward the coast.
The Tampa Bay area, home to more than 3.3 million people, has not seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.
“Everyone in Tampa Bay should assume we’re going to be ground zero,” said Kathy Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County.
Meanwhile, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a more dire warning to evacuation zone residents who had planned to shelter from Hurricane Milton in their homes, saying it was a death wish.
“The people who are in these say you are in a one-story house… 12 feet above that house,” he said in an address late Tuesday night. “So, if you’re in it, you know, basically it’s the coffin you’re in.”
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