stands. isn t it set up so that the force of the animal could not lunge and push its way out of that space? you got it exactly right, alex. that s exactly right. these enclosures are built to be strong enough to withstand the strength of the animal themselves. the example of gorillas, lions and tigers, that is an incredibly powerful animal. zoo miami has been through hurricane katrina, hurricane andrew, hurricane wilma, and those enclosures have proven to be very safe and sturdy during those storms. what about things like power, ron? i know you ve got to have food refrigerated, different things for the animals. what a nightmare is that trying to feed all of them within this small, enclosed space, the kind of food they re expected to get. you re right again. we have an incredibly dedicated staff. we have ordered ahead of time extra food. we have generators throughout the zoo that have been checked over and over again. not just for the food but for the life system support. we have
ron, how much have things changed in terms of planning for flamingos and other animals at the zoo in the case of irma. we ve made a lot of upgrades at the zoo itself. hurricane andrew destroyed the zoo so in the process of rebuilding, we rebuilt it with these hurricanes in mind and of course just meeting the miami building codes now, probably the toughest building codes in the country so we ve got a lot of additional safe structures now that we ve moved these animals into. we no longer have to put the flamingos into the bathroom. they have their own safe structure and a lot of the smaller animals are move t to smaller enclosures that are moved to buildings throughout the zoo. we know a lot of folks that have had to evacuate. they ve got their pets with them. pets obviously sense, you know, a big storm coming. what is it like for the larger animals and for your team to be able to move these animals to safety if they re feeling resistant or frightened? well, fortunately, most of th
whether bit a lion or gorilla or elephant, and fortunately, those areas are now strong enough to also withstand the strength of a hurricane. that s been proven when we went through hurricane andrew and katrina and wilma. this storm is a storm of its own magnitude so a lot of things are going to be tested. that s why we don t evacuate animals from the zoo. a lot of these storms with change at the last second, but more importantly, whereas people will evacuate their pets, these animals are used to being transported. when you try to do that with a wild animal, the stress that you put upon that animal can kill the animal. it can cause more damage than the storm itself. ron, thank you very much. you and your team over there at zoo miami, stay safe. and obviously we re going to be check income with y checking in with you as we learn more about irma and also post-irma. we spent a lot of time this week telling people about the
staffers who are going to stay there at the zoo, around the clock, how have those decisions been made? well, i ll tell you what, people that work in the zoo for the money, that s a fact. they love the animals, they work with. they love the message trying to get across to people. they are going to be staff staying here throughout the storm. they re going to be hunkered down here in the administration building. the veterinarian will be here. animal science staff will be here as well as security rangers will be here throughout the night. we have radio communication with everybody. staff throughout their homes. everybody has been working all day today, all day tomorrow, and we will be in here also on saturday to do the last animal moves because we want to move an animal at late as possible because we want them to be an unfamiliar areas short of time as possible. the last major moves will be moving the flamingos on saturday. we re looking at pictures that you provided from 1992 during h
it looks beautiful behind you now, rosa, but we know it is not going to be. we appreciate the report. rosa flores. the last time that a category 5 hurricane hit zoo miami there were storks by the toilets and trailers next upside down life at the zoo became after the hurricane andrew in 1992. with irma, stronger and bigger moving toward miami, what is the zoo doing today? the man to answer is joining me live now. ron mcgill is the communication s director for zoo miami. so ron, tell us how are you preparing for this? how are you planning to protect the animals from irma? well, brianna, snot a whole lot has changed. since 92 we went through wilma and katrina which gave us damage. andrew came through the center of the zoo. it devastated the facility. this isn t our first rodeo.