Protecting Animals From Hurricane Isaias: Zoo Locks Down, Mobile Seeks Dog Fosters, Livestock Shelters Open

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Protecting animals from Hurricane Isaias has become its own race against the clock along the Alabama coast. Keepers at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo are building windbreaks and moving animals into shelters, the City of Mobile is looking for emergency foster homes for shelter dogs, and the state has opened free shelters for livestock owners who need to move their herds out of harm’s way.

Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane on Thursday, Oct. 8, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, and was expected to make landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. Here is how animal caretakers across the region are getting ready, and what pet and livestock owners should do.

Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo: windbreaks, then lockdown

At the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo on County Road 6, also known as Oak Road East, in Gulf Shores, Director Joel Hamilton and his staff spent midweek putting up windbreaks on some exhibits. The plan for Friday, Oct. 9, was to begin securing animals indoors.

“Then Friday (Oct. 9), we’ll start locking animals up and moving some of the birds and things out of their smaller cage units into buildings,” Hamilton said on Oct. 7. “Make sure everybody’s got the protection that’s needed and required.”

Hamilton said the hardest part is confining animals that are used to roaming. The zoo normally lets animals use their exhibits through the night, so being shut in is a change in routine.

“Some of them don’t like it because we don’t lock our animals up on a regular basis,” he said. “Giraffes are used to being locked up if there’s a storm coming; lightning storm, we don’t let them out in the lightning.”

A “storm rider team” will stay at the zoo during the storm to check on the animals regularly, Hamilton said.

A zoo built with hurricanes in mind

Storms have shaped the zoo’s history. Its former home, on the east side of State Route 59 at 13th Avenue East, flooded repeatedly in storms large and small. Hurricane Ivan, which struck on Sept. 16, 2004, became what Hamilton called the impetus for moving.

“I know that people were wanting a new zoo and wanting one and wanting one,” Hamilton said. “We were lucky to have a local family, the Weirs, who donated 25 acres of land to us, and we were able to get started on the planning and funding of the new zoo.”

The new zoo opened in 2020 and soon faced its first test: Hurricane Sally, which came ashore on Sept. 16, 2020, 16 years to the day after Ivan. The new site held up.

“None of the animals were impacted, which is thankfully a good thing,” Hamilton said. “And we had one exhibit that had a tree come down on it, but we were able to fix that pretty quickly. … Sally came in on a Wednesday night, and we had all the animals back in their exhibits by Friday.”

Today, he said, the zoo has buildings for nearly all of its animals and does not face the flooding that plagued the old location. “You take those things out of the mix and it keeps things a little bit simpler,” he said.

Mobile Animal Services needs emergency dog fosters

In Mobile, the city’s Animal Services Department put out a call on Facebook on Wednesday, Oct. 7, for temporary foster homes for dogs during the storm. The department asked residents of Mobile and nearby communities within driving distance to apply.

“You provide a loving temporary home, and we will provide the rest,” the post states. “Our team will give you a call to schedule a time to pick up a pet once your application has been reviewed. As soon as we know pets are safe to return to the shelter, you may bring them back.”

Fostering during a storm moves dogs out of the shelter while staff and the facility deal with the weather, and the arrangement is temporary: once the shelter says it is safe, fosters return the animals. Residents interested in helping can reach the department through the City of Mobile’s Animal Services channels, including its Facebook page.

Free livestock shelters open across Alabama

The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries said it has contacted partners to provide temporary shelters for livestock evacuated ahead of Isaias. Livestock moving because of the storm will be exempt from the usual requirement for a certificate of veterinary inspection.

The shelters are for livestock only, not pets or companion animals such as dogs and cats. There is no charge, but space is first-come, first-served, and owners should call ahead to confirm a facility can take their animals and to learn its requirements. The available sites are:

• Pike County Cattleman’s Association: 4100 U.S. Highway 231 South, Troy. Contact Dick Barnett, 334-670-1228.
• Houston County Farm Center: 1701 E. Cottonwood Road, Dothan. Contact Tony Ellison, 334-793-4323, ext. 104.
• R.H. Kirkpatrick Agricultural Pavilion: 2224 Alabama Highway 14 West, Autaugaville. Contact Lee Pittman, 334-850-7994.

The department said owners should be ready to care for their own animals while away and should bring:

• A current list of all animals, with feeding, vaccination and testing records and proof of ownership for each.
• Supplies for temporary identification, such as plastic neckbands and permanent markers, to label animals with the owner’s name, address and phone number.
• Halters and other handling equipment suited to each kind of animal.
• Water, feed and buckets, plus tools and supplies for sanitation.

Questions about sheltering livestock during an evacuation can be directed to Taylor Ellis, the department’s emergency programs director, at 334-240-7279.

Families riding it out with their animals

Not everyone is moving their animals. In Loxley, where county officials urged voluntary evacuations, Nichole Eubanks and her husband planned to ride out the storm on their farm, home to dozens of animals including pigs, donkeys and about 20 rescued cats. They planned to put contact information on the hooves of their goats, donkeys and pigs in case any got loose.

“It’s definitely scary, and you never really know where these storms are going to go and how bad it’s going to be until it gets there,” said Eubanks, 35.

In Gulf Shores, resident Maranie Adams and her family, who live about a half-mile from the shore, planned to shelter at home alongside their flock of chickens. “We’re having to get crates to bring them into the house so they don’t blow away,” Adams said. “It’s going to be noisy.”

Tips for pet and livestock owners

Emergency management agencies and animal welfare groups generally offer the same core advice for keeping animals safe in a hurricane:

• Make sure animals can be identified. Pets should wear collars with current tags, and microchip contact information should be up to date. Take recent photos of each animal in case you are separated.
• Pack a kit. Include several days of food and water, medications, vaccination records, leashes, carriers, litter and waste bags.
• Do not leave pets behind. If you evacuate, plan to take your pets. Check ahead whether your shelter or hotel accepts animals, since many general shelters do not.
• Bring pets inside. Animals can panic in high winds and loud weather. Keep them indoors in a secure room and in carriers if needed.
• Plan for livestock early. Moving large animals takes time, trailers and a destination. If animals will stay, move them to high ground away from flood-prone pastures, and make sure they have access to feed and clean water.
• Be careful afterward. Downed fences, debris, floodwater and fallen power lines can injure animals. Check fields and yards before letting animals out.

Forecasters expected tropical-storm-force winds along the coast Friday, with the worst conditions Friday night into early Saturday and improving weather Sunday. Residents should follow the Baldwin County and Mobile County emergency management agencies and the National Weather Service in Mobile for the latest information.