Panama City Beach's ZooWorld reopens, sends crew to help ... - The News Herald

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The untamed rains and winds of Hurricane Sally were no contender for the wildlife at ZooWorld Zoological & Botanical Conservatory.

Zoo officials said aside from about 2 feet of water that flooded the alligator pond and vegetative debris strewn throughout the park from the hurricane-strength winds, the zoo fared well through the storm.

"The animals are completely safe. Staff did a great job prepping for the zoo, so the zoo did quite well," said ZooWorld Curator of Wildlife Erika Newell. "We had to move some (animals) to indoor locations, but we didn't have to evacuate any."

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By Friday, the zoo reopened its doors to guests after three days of closing for the anticipated hurricane that loomed for days in the Gulf of Mexico.

Friday also marked the first day of recovery work for four ZooWorld staff members at Alabama Gulf World Zoo in Gulf Shores, an area that took the brunt of the storm.

As of Friday morning, Hurricane Sally had taken two lives in Baldwin County — one cleanup related and the other a drowning — and left extensive damage along the Alabama-Florida border.

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The four-hour drive from Bay County took the ZooWorld crew nine hours because Interstate 10 was closed because of storm damage. But when the Panama City Beach crew arrived Thursday morning, they observed a familiar scene.

"They've got really well-built exhibits for their animals. Their animals are all safe," Newell said. "They really just have some tree damage and debris from all of the rain."

Newell said the PCB crew would stay throughout the weekend to continue recovery work at the Alabama zoo. The local zoo's disaster resource and rescue team has offered helping hands on other natural disasters, deploying a crew to help Louisiana Purchase Zoo & Gardens when Hurricane Laura pummeled the Gulf Coast west of Florida in late August. 

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The PCB zoo also came to the aid of Australia's 65-acre Mogo Wildlife Park when a rash of brush fires threatened New South Wales late last year. The zoo raised more than $11,000 to purchase critical equipment needed for triage for Mogo's animals.

Newell said her team is committed to helping other zoos and keeps in mind the amount of support ZooWorld received after losing two animals and sustaining about $300,000 in damages in 2018. 

"We learned well from Hurricane Michael it's not just animal care and maintenance that have to assist with disasters," Newell said. "Everybody has to help out.

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"We've worked hard the past couple of weeks. We knew that after Hurricane Michael we had a lot of people that helped us out and so this is our way to repay the favor. But, it's not just the favor, we feel it's our job to make sure other zoos are assisted and feel like they've got support."