Monday, September 05, 2005

I went on down to the Audubon Zoo and they all axed for you

YAY! Good news about the zoo.... I volunteered and worked at the Audubon Zoo from age 12 til my Sophomore year in college. This place was a second home to me throughout my teenage years. So glad to hear it is largely okay. I am still waiting to hear news about Academy of the Sacred Heart. Does anyone know?

Audubon Zoo survives
By Michael J. Montalbano
and Jeff Duncan
Staff writers
Like Noah at the helm of the Arc, a weary but determined Dan Maloney stood at the gates of the Audubon Zoo on Friday and shook his head as he described the journey he and his skeleton crew of animal caretakers endured while guiding the facility's collection of 1,400 animals through Hurricane Katrina.
Amazingly, only two animals were killed by the Category 4 storm, which devastated the Gulf Coast on Monday, said Maloney, the zoo's vice
president and general curator. One other animal was killed in the aftermath.
Maloney said the 58-acre zoo suffered little structural damage from the storm, which he called "the worst natural situation to hit" the 120-year-old institution. The biggest damage was to the trees and
horticulture.
Maloney and a team of about a dozen, including two security guards, are caring for and maintaining the zoo's population of more than 350 species. The zoo's normal operation numbers 30 to 40 staffers daily, he said.
"We feel very fortunate," Maloney said. "We're hanging in there. We did our homework. We're doing the best we can."

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

REMEMBER THE DOLPHINS!

Mon Sep 05, 02:02:00 AM  
Blogger lequincampe said...

REMEMBER THE OTTERS AND SEA LIONS!

I have to say that this gives me a glimmer of hope. I am so happy that the zoo is mostly okay.

Mon Sep 05, 10:50:00 AM  
Blogger Slimbolala said...

I just took a look at it from an aerial photo (shots of the city are being posted on line and it happens to be in the same photo as my house). You obviously can't get details but it looks fine. The roof is entirely intact. There are no trees down around it. Also from everything I've been reading that area is doing remarkably well. The flood waters only ever made it as far south as St. Charles and then receded quickly. ALL of the live oaks on St. Charles are supposedly intact and only a handful of other trees were toppled.

You may already know this but it's possible to get a lot of very detailed info on NOLA.com. Go to the main page. Scroll down to "What happened to my neighborhood?" Click on "Orleans". It's a forum with lots of detailed info being posted. You can search the forum and find out a lot. I didn't see anything specifically about Sacred Heart but the area in general is good. There is also a link somewhere or other on NOLA.com to the aerial photos. If you want that particular one drop me a line at slimbolala@gmail.com and I can pass it along to you.

Mon Sep 05, 02:28:00 PM  
Blogger Slimbolala said...

I realize that I never specified that I was talking about Sacred Heart. Anyway, I was. I'm very stupid right now. Best wishes to you and yours.

Mon Sep 05, 04:52:00 PM  
Blogger lequincampe said...

It's all good. Thank you for all the information. I haven't had the heart to pour through much of what is available as I just know my house is gone and it hurts too much to think about this too closely right now. I'm trying to save my energy for doing what I can from a distance and preparing for when I need to come back and help out my folks.

I'm glad to hear you and your family are hanging in there. Hopefully, we'll all meet in NOLA someday. All best.

Mon Sep 05, 07:11:00 PM  

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