Hurricane Ivan & The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

During hurricanes, zoo animals must rely on their keepers for safety. Back in 2004, workers at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo struggled to protect their animals from Hurricane Ivan.

On September 13th, 2004, thousands of Gulf Shores residents monitor the path of Hurricane Ivan as it moves toward the Gulf.

Patti Hall is Director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, which is a 17-acre non-profit attraction. Because the zoo sits just one mile from the ocean, Hall must evacuate most of the 280 animals that live there.

In her 7 years of running the zoo, this is the first time Hall has done such a large-scale move. She felt she had to take the chance of removing them because leaving them could mean they'd drown a horrible death.

So the plan is to move the animals about 20 miles inland onto Hall's own property.

Hall and her staff actually videotaped the entire experience, which you'll see in Storm Stories. The workers prepared cages and food and borrowed two cattle trucks from a local company to move the animals.

But some animals simply cannot be sedated for the transport and will have to remain at the zoo. They include 25 fallow deer, two emus, an ostrich, and a favorite zoo attraction, Chuckie-an 11 foot, one-thousand pound alligator.

As you can probably imagine, some animals are more reluctant to leave than others. The aoudads actually try to jump over a fence and escape!

The entire move is completed, and you'll see it all on Storm Stories.

But what happens next is yet another big challenge.

Once Hurricane Ivan left Gulf Shores, Patti and her team return to the zoo, and find it in ruins. It was destroyed by a 10-foot ocean surge.

Five out of 30 animals left behind are now dead, and on survivor is missing from his exhibit. This just happens to be Chuckie...the one-thousand pound alligator.

Well here in our area, we too have wild animals that need protection. At the Oatland Island Wildlife Center, there's more than 100 acres filled with more than 50 species of animals. It's where you can come face to face with exotic animals. But it's also a place that could come face to face with a hurricane.

Chris Gentile is the director of the Oatland Island Wildlife Center, and he has an extensive plan in place in case this scenario ever plays out.

"We don't want to evacuate animals," says Gentile. "There's a lot of danger with taking animals off sight."

The reason why isn't just to protect the animals but to protect you too.

Gentile asks what happens if they got stuck in traffic or had an accident? He says you then have an animal that's potentially dangerous roaming around a neighborhood.

So there is a plan to stay at the wildlife center, but this plan places the animals in a more secure area.

"We bring them into their back up because we want it to be routine for them, so it's not something out of the ordinary," says Gentile. "Things that are out of the ordinary are stressful to animals."

For some animals, this plan may include going to the quarantine center. This decision depends on the strength of the storm.

Gentile says the plan is to provide every animal the best chance to survive.