Zoo animals comforted during Bret

President of the Zoological Society Gupte Lutchmedial said whenever there is a storm threat, they keep a full complement of staff during the event.

He said the standard operating procedure is that dangerous animals must be locked up in a special holding cage in the event they got spooked from fallen trees, branches or blown off roofs.

“We have five tigers and five lions which we had to lock up in that area.

“They had to be comfortable in order for them not to get scared. The area is what we called a night shelter which is re-enforced with steel and concrete and could withstand a certain level of an earthquake as well as a hurricane.” He said although there was minor damage to some of the bird enclosures, they were faced with some challenges getting the birds into a confined area.

“When the animals have people they are accustomed to around them, they tend to feel a sense of comfort.” He said the monkeys and chimpanzees had to be monitored throughout the night.

“We had six truckloads of fallen branches removed from the zoo after he passing of the storm. We had some trees that also fell which were cut up and removed.”