Florida zoos brace for Hurricane Irma

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.”

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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.

“Most (animals) kind of hunker down, just kind of stay still, stay in one spot, kind of let it pass,” Brevard Zoo collection manager Lauren Hinson told USA Today. “There are some that can get a little nervous and flighty. But for the most part, they deal with it kind of how they would in the wild.”

Power outages present a huge problem, especially for aquariums. In 2004 during Hurricane Katrina, thousands of fish died in New Orleans’ aquarium when the power went out.

Florida is under a state of emergency as Hurricane Irma, now a category 3 storm, approaches the state. Parts of the state are under mandatory evacuation.

“This is a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential,” President Trump said in his weekly address released Friday.

“I ask everyone in the storm’s path to be vigilant, and to heed all recommendations from government officials and law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our people.”