Dead New Orleans/Gulfport Zoo + Aquarium Animals

[gldstwmn]

link for those who want to help the animals:

http://www.uan.org/ears/action_report.html

[Songbird4]

I am a zookeeper down in Miami and one of my co-workers spoke with a keeper in New Orleans, not sure where exactly. I can tell you that there were keepers that stayed at the zoo during the hurricane and were instructed to not let any of the animals suffer the pain of drowning.

~Kim

[LongBlackScarf]

Originally Posted by Songbird4

there were keepers who stayed at the zoo during the hurricane and were instructed not to let any of the animals suffer the pain of drowning.

~Kim

Not sure what you mean here. How would zookeepers accomplish this? And why would they risk their own lives during mandatory evacuation?

[reebokandlace]

I posted this in another thread but I thought I would post it here too...

There are many homeless pets who were abandoned by their owners before and during Hurricane Katrina. The Humane Society (they are the ones who do not euthanize animals!) are trying to set up shelters for these stray victims. They currently have a staff of 30 trained people from 12 different states who are going in to the affected areas and attempting to rescue every pet who needs help.......lots of relief money will begin to flow in for the HUMAN victims, but the animals need help too.

Please consider helping these folks out...they need money to buy medical supplies, food and other necessities to try to help out all these pets.....even $1.00 would make a difference.

https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?

[Songbird4]

There were keepers who offered to stay. They were housed in the Reptile building with food, a raft, and guns.

~Kim

[LongBlackScarf]

Originally Posted by Songbird4

There were keepers who offered to stay. They were housed in the Reptile building with food, a raft, and guns.

~Kim

I still don't understand what their plans were for protecting the animals. It was a major hurricane. I didn't buy the Noah's Ark story the first time...so a raft would seem rather futile in moving animals to safer ground after the fact, eh? Especially since everyone knew there was going to BE no safer ground.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by LongBlackScarf

I still don't understand what their plans were for protecting the animals. It was a major hurricane. I didn't buy the Noah's Ark story the first time...so a raft would seem rather futile in moving animals to safer ground after the fact, eh? Especially since everyone knew there was going to BE no safer ground.

I read that the reptile building was built to withstand the worst of hurricanes.

[Songbird4]

The raft was for the keepers, not the animals. They were going to need it if there was flooding, which there was. There wasn't much they could do to protect some of the animals. They were instructed not to let them suffer. Drowning is probably one of the worst ways to go. As a keeper, I don't know if I could shoot any of my animals, but at the same time, I don't know if I could watch any of them drown. I could not imagine being one of those keepers.

~Kim

[gldstwmn]

The Audubon Zoo General Curator Dan Maloney feeds the zoo's giraffes in New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Other than an alligator on the loose, a couple of dead otters and a host of shell-shocked animals, denizens of the New Orleans zoo came through deadly Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed.

[gldstwmn]

Small survivor : US Airforce Lt. Nathan Brosheal holds a kitten rescued and airlifted to New Orleans International Airport in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana

[GateandGarden]

Thanks for posting those, Chris.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

Thanks for posting those, Chris.

I thought we could use a lift.

[Livia]

I'm crying tears of joy. Thanks for posting this!