Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo: Part 2

Last week My Fella and I went to the Alamaba Gulf Coast Zoo, The Little Zoo That Could.

From wikipedia:  In July 1997 Hurricane Danny hit Gulf Shores. Then in 1998, Hurricane Georges hit, causing more flood damage. The zoo evacuated all of its animals in both cases, transporting them 15 miles (24km) inland to higher ground and becoming the first zoo to have a full scale evacuation during a hurricane. These expensive evacuations, and the repairs following the hurricanes, almost caused the zoo to close in 1999, but fund raising efforts were successful in raising enough money to keep it open.  Hurricane Ivan in 2004, caused $500,000 in damage, forcing another evacuation and closing the zoo for 14 months. Several animals were not caught during this evacuation, and were lost. More evacuations resulted from Dennis and Katrina in 2005, but the zoo was able to reopen fairly quickly in October 2005.

After bouncing back from so many fatal hurricanes, the zoo was aptly nicknamed The Little Zoo That Could. And now a local family has donated 25 acres of Alabama land for a new zoo site which is set to open in 2012.  The site is further inland and hopefully out of reach of the many hurricanes that hit this area. 

Shots from our visit are below.  Hover over each pic for a description.

Okay, I'm tired of editing pictures - the lemurs and lions will have to wait 'til tomorrow for their debut.

Comments

[Don]

Are there a lot of tourists around there, like at the zoo, etc? Have you seen many Canadian license plates? Our zoo here had to close, too much ice, too much snow and too many below freezing temperatures!

[kelsi]

Mr P - there are ZERO Canadian tourists here. We only saw five or six Canadian license plates on the last leg of our trip (through Louisiana/ Mississippi/ Alabama) but they were all on the interstate and heading towards Florida.
The tourists we've met so far are American snowbirds from cold states like Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, etc. Lots of retired Army/Navy fellas with outgoing personalities and great stories to share.