TROUP COUNTY, Ga. (WRBL)— Recovery initiatives are underway in Troup County following the fourth twister to strike the place due to the fact the beginning of the year. With wind peaks recorded at 150 miles per hour, quite a few spots ended up impacted, including the Wild Animal Safari Park in Pine Mountain.
“There’s not a one exhibit that was untouched,” Zoo Director Katie Harrison mentioned. “This was just one of these factors that a zoo director or even a zookeeper, we have nightmares about points like this.”
In just 30 minutes Sunday morning, an EF3 tornado tore by means of Troup and Meriwether Counties. In the 22 miles of destruction lies the Wild Animal Safari Park. While most of the animals remained unharmed, there were being a few wounded, and fewer killed.
“We did have 5 casualties,” Harrison confirmed.
Out of 550 whole animals, only 10 were superficially wounded, all have been checked out by Zoo Atlanta’s head veterinarian.
With thousands of trees uprooted, fences down, and habitats taken out of fee, the park was forced to near briefly. Various animals have been taken to their Missouri park even though their habitats are staying fixed.
“We’re even now evaluating the hurt, but we’re making an attempt to rebuild. It is heading to take a prolonged time to rebuild all of our animal reveals,” Harrison stated.
Next 7 days is Troup County’s spring crack, a 7 days that typically delivers in a history selection of people.
“That is virtually our greatest week out of the complete calendar year, each and every year,” Harrison explained. “So, we are taking a tricky strike there. But we acquired to do what we obtained to do to keep the general public and animals harmless. That is our top rated precedence.”
Two of their tigers briefly escaped during the tornado even so, they never ever remaining the house, and the two had been recovered and properly put into their short-term habitat. Their original habitat is just just one of the objects on the record to repair as their crew operates to re-open up their doors.
“We’re looking at opening the drive-thru initially and then we’re likely to hopefully open part of our walkabout area and right after that the relaxation of the walkabout,” Harrison said. “But appropriate now, our precedence is just finding all the animals in which they need to be and just making guaranteed that everybody’s taken treatment of.”
Folks at the Wild Animal Safari Park hope to partly open someday early April. To open the drive-thru attraction, $20,000 well worth of rocks are becoming introduced in to fortify the highway for guests to travel on as erosion is now the parks upcoming worry.
Prior to the tornado, the park was organizing on bringing in lemurs and a new camel having said that, those transports have been set on keep for the time getting. WRBL will update you when the park opens in its numerous stages.
