Hurricane Irma - what will happen with the animals at AK?

[Deanie1]

First of all, for all of you at WDW and in the state of Florida - Please be careful, be safe and be patient with everyone. It is a scary and stressful time.

I was just, out of curiosity, looking at the wait times at the parks. I saw the Kilimanjaro safaris is 10 mins and it got me wondering - what happens with the animals? I am sure some can be brought into pens and paddocks but will all be kept safe? How does one round up the lions? I hope they will all be safe and not too frightened.

 

[rteetz]

They will be put in their housing and ride out crews will stay with them.

 

[eastendlights]

I just rode the safari. Many of the animals are already in their shelters.

 

[figment81]

The majority of the large animals went to their off stage shelters and enclosures by 2pm today, while the rest will be sheltered starting at 5pm.

Source: cast member at the maharaja jungle trek today.

 

[honeymo78]

Essentially all the animals have "barns" and don't actually spend all their time on out on the safari. This is where they will be throughout the storm. I have seen the elephant, giraffe, and rhino barns and they all seemed to resemble concrete bunkers which would offer safety in a storm. The elephant "yard" had a bunch of toys in it the last time I was there which I'm sure they have brought inside.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I answered someone's question about this here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...o-up-for-florida.3631880/page-5#post-58168505

but I'll also just repost it, that other thread is getting a little long....

The animals are pretty hardy, but the habitats and the security of the habitats is the main problem. They don't want animals accidentally escaping because water or a wind or a crashing tree brings down a fence, so yeah, they do try to bring them into indoor enclosures and habitats as much as possible. Water and muck will go everywhere, you can't stop that, but you can stop certain areas from HOLDING water after the surge and you can set up debris zones that are more likely to catch pieces of fence, cars, signpoles, garbage cans, all those "things" that are going to float on down... after the receding water, there is just a ton of toxic muck to scrape up and off everything, and dig stuff out...

Here are some real-life solutions from the Calgary Zoo when the city flooded in 2013:
https://www.calgaryzoo.com/keep-it-wild/your-guide-flooding-and-rebuilding-calgary-zoo

Here are some photos of what that looked like:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/0...92063.html?utm_hp_ref=ca-calgary-zoo-flooding

The Miami Zoo's solution to the flamingos was PERFECT and probably close to what they might also do at AK should the situation warrant it!

Anything that CAN live together in peace without fighting or aggression gets roommates. Anything large and dangerous is pulled back to its keeper enclosure and locked down and a team deployed in case they need to dart the animals and haul them off to higher ground.

 

[Deanie1]

Thanks so much for posting this. I am glad to hear that they are so well cared for.

 

[LeahA]

What do they do with all the animals on the Savanna during the storm? Are they all taken inside enclosures?

 

[loves to dive]

They have enclosures they go to during the night. They are kept there during storms.

 

[LeahA]

Thanks for the response, just so many animals and birds to protect. Hard to believe that they all will be safe.