Question about the animals at AK & AKL

[mrsltg]

Hi All-

Just wondering what's going to happen to the animals. If Frances is as slow moving as they say, Orlando is going to get a lot of rain. Are the animal barns able to handle this? What about at SeaWorld, what do they do with Shamu and other whales?

Erin

 

[Harambe]

I was wondering the same thing! After our stay in January at AKL, and loving those giraffes, I find myself worrying about them! Hopefully the barns will protect them.

 

[TN Traveler]

When Charley came through 3 weeks ago my DD8 asked this very same question. I posted it on here but it's probably so far back, you'd never find it. One person replied that there are the barns that the animals go to and they are built to withstand hurricane force winds and just about anything else Mother Nature can dish out. She was also concerned about the whales and dolphins at SW. I thought perhaps there were special tanks they sent the dolphins, whales and other wildlife to but never got a firm answer on that. Someone did say that since the animals are used to being in this weather out in the wild, they'll be fine. However, I thought since the majority of the animals have never lived in the wild and are "zoo Babies" then they wouldn't know what to do but again, no one answered our question.

Hopefully someone will see your post and reply.

Good luck!!
Karen

 

[seashoreCM]

One thing I might ask, what induces the animals to report to the shelter area? Do cast members have to go out and round them up?

 

[schwager]

When we were there during Charley the CM went around and rounded up the critters at AKL. One of the keepers told my husband that they had to heavily weigh the risks of the stress of moving them against the severity of the storm. The started probably two days before (from what we could tell).

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

All the animals at Animal Kingdom are trained to respond to a specific audio stimulus, by going to a certain place in their habitat, or going into their cage/carrier/barn. This is useful for stuff like feeding, vet checkups, and weather preparations. I'm not sure which stimuli matches to which animal, but some of the stimuli include a whistle without a ball in it, a cow bell, a tympani, and a dog whistle

 

[Moridyn]

This is something that I've been thingking about lately too.
I'm bringing a few friends to the AKL on Sept. 24 because I talked about it so much when I came back from my trip in May. I would for anything to happen to ANY of the animals there.

 

[stacilee]

Eric above, said it well about the animals at the AKL, we too were told that each species is trained to return "home" by an audible sound.
on a recent trip we were also told that underneath the hotel itself is some sort of emergency shelter for the animals, in the case of an extreme threat.

We had the great fortune to go on the sunrise safari this summer and were driven in a disney bus from the hotel to the AK via "the back way". The road that the employees use- behind the scenes, so to speak. Of course we were asked ahead of time NOT to photograph or videotape anything along the way - and of course we respected and followed the instructions as did all of our safari-mates.

My whole family is crazy about animals. I can tell you with all certainty that those buildings backstage that house the animals are the MOST state of the art structures I have ever seen! We have been to many zoos over the years and I really think the Disney facility rivals the best of the best. There was nothing slapdash or flimsy about them. Think Jurrasic park without the veloceraptors getting loose. LOL

I have complete confidence that those animals lucky enough to call Disney home are in no danger.

 

[DisneyDiver]

Obviously bad things can happen... remember when Betsy the giraffe got struck by lightning a while ago? I think they just got caught off-guard by a freak storm that time.

I'm sure Disney know how to look after their animals though.