From the BBC:
“Australia fires: Mogo Zoo
animals saved by staff efforts”
Amid the devastating fires
ravaging Australia, a small zoo has managed to save all its animals through the
extraordinary bravery of its staff. Mogo
Zoo houses Australia's largest collection of primates, along with zebras,
rhinos and giraffes. Yet when it was right in the line of a bushfire, the
keepers managed to protect all 200 animals from harm. While most were sheltered
at the site, monkeys, pandas and even a tiger were temporary lodgers at one
keeper's home. On Tuesday, an evacuation
order was made for the New South Wales area where the zoo is located, but staff
decided to stay to protect their animals. Zoo director Chad Staples said the situation
had been "apocalyptic" and that it "felt like Armageddon". He said the zoo only survived because there'd
been a precise plan in place: first the zoo keepers moved everything flammable
from the area and then turned to the animals themselves. The larger ones like the lions, tigers and
orang-utans were moved into secured night enclosures to keep them safe and
calm, but the smaller ones needed extra shelter. So director Staples decided to simply have
them taken to his own house. "Right
now in my house there's animals of all descriptions in all the different rooms,
that are there safe and protected... not a single animal lost," he told
the ABC broadcaster. Sara Ang from the
wildlife park told BBC 5 Live radio that "some of the smaller monkeys had
to be moved to the house, the red panda is in the house and there's a tiger in
the back area of the house". "All the animals that needed to be moved
indoors have been moved indoors," and hence are safe from the fire. The zoo was encircled by fire and smoke, the
zoo keepers say Giraffes and zebras were
left in their enclosures as they were large enough for the animals to move away
from spot fires. Mr Staples explained
that these were the only animals that suffered from stress - not from the fires
but due to the rush of keepers and vehicles moving around to fight the flames. He
told the ABC the zoo staff had prepared "hundreds of thousands of
litres" of water in advance and then put water into smaller tanks on
vehicles to drive around and put out spot fires. Describing how his team worked for hours and
throughout the night, he said the park would have been lost to the fire had it
not been for the staff's heroic efforts to save it. The zoo's survival is a positive development
after a devastating week along Australia's eastern coast. However, the small town of Mogo itself has
been severely damaged by the fires, with dozens of homes destroyed. The bushfires have killed at least seven
people in the Australian state of New South Wales since Monday, according to
police. Fires have also destroyed more than 200 homes, leaving thousands of
people facing an uncertain future.
^ This is one of those stories
that really makes you stop and think and at the same time makes you feel good.
It makes you stop and think because you wonder what you would do in the same
situation (a wild fire or other disaster) and how these wild fires are affecting
humans and animals alike. It makes you feel good because of the hard-work and
dedication of the zoo staff. Rather than flee the danger (and possibly abandon
some, if not all of the animals, behind) they had a really good “plan of attack”
and it seems to have kept the zoo and the animals safe. I have long believed
and openly said that those who love and care for animals (whether at their home
as pets, in the wild or at zoos) tend to be a special kind of person who will
do almost anything for those animals. The staff at this zoo definitely are
those kinds of people. ^
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