I was watching TV the morning of the 30th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, which hit landfall on August 24, 1992. Many of the reporters who covered the original story are still active journalists, and recalled the harrowing experiences they encountered. They remembered it like it was yesterday. One of only a few Category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the U.S., it wreaked havoc everywhere, crushing whole towns in minutes. It even destroyed much of the Metrozoo in Miami.
One of the iconic images from that hurricane is a picture of a dozen or so pink flamingos in the bathroom of the zoo. Miraculously only a few mammals were killed in the hurricane, but several hundred birds of various kinds were killed. The structures at the zoo came down like a house of cards. With winds from 165-212 mph that's what you would expect. Zoo employees who were present that day acted quickly. They herded the flamingos into the bathroom for safekeeping!. Most of the flamingos were spared, and in 2013 the new Miami Zoo, with a beautiful flamingo habitat was created. The new area is designed with hurricanes in mind. There is a structure near the habitat that the flamingos have been trained to go into in case of disaster. The new building is storm proof.
Flamingos can live to be 50 years old, so many of the 40 flamingos in the Miami Zoo were there in 1992 and survived. I wonder how they like their new digs. Through the kindness and generosity of thousands of Floridians and animal lovers around the world, the zoo was rebuilt and is a place of beauty, for all to enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment