Lessons Learned from a Tsunami Threat

The recent tsunami that menaced the entire Pacific Coast could have been an unimaginable disaster, due to both the potential widespread flooding and the fact that it would have happened in the middle of the night.

Contingency planning challenges you to consider the myriad ways in which disasters can impact your animals, staff, and facility. Most planning assumes daytime activities. But what if your facility experiences a crisis after hours?

Learn how to plan for after-hours emergencies, how we monitored the tsunami, and how and why to download our emergency contact flyer.

Network Member Provided Temporary Housing to Lemurs That Lost Their Habitat

A severe storm ripped through central Texas last May, with straight line winds that caused significant damage to a ZDR3 Network facility. The staff and animals were fine, but several animal habitats were damaged.

Straight line winds destroyed a lemur habitat at an animal refuge in Texas

ZDR3 Needs Assessors from the Fort Worth Zoo arrived the next day and repaired habitat fences to ensure they were fully secure before the animals were re-released into their main living spaces. The facility’s staff and volunteers managed the clean up. But their lemurs needed a place to stay while their habitat was being repaired.

Susan Kleven, Director of Frank Buck Zoo (FBZ), and one of ZDR3’s founders and board members, offered to house the lemurs. Susan pointed out that to ensure the health of both collections, housing another facility’s animals requires an enclosure that is not close to the rest of the host facility’s animals, biosecurity in foot baths, PPE, and dedicated cleaning tools. Also important: having adequate space for the troop to gather and be comfortable, and a means to shift them from one enclosure to another during cleaning and feeding. Fortunately, FBZ was able to provide all of those comfort and security measures.

The displaced lemur troop in their temporary housing.

Photo courtesy of Frank Buck Zoo

“We have a few enclosures that are dedicated to providing temporary housing for animals during an evacuation,” said Susan. “It’s our way of remaining ready to assist our peers as needed. It provides peace of mind to belong to a network of professionals willing to assist one another when resources are limited.”

Read more about this response.

Webinars Worth Watching

The Zoological Association of America (ZAA) offers excellent educational webinars. They provided recordings for our members for two webinars in which ZDR3 staff participated.

Features practical advice by Dale Anderson and Wendy Debbas of Project Survival’s Cat Haven, and Marty Sawin of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Because these ZDR3 Network member facilities are located in fire-prone areas, the presenters have years of insight into the best ways to protect your staff, animals, and facility from wildfires. ZDR3 staff moderated the session and provided additional context based on our deployment and support experience during wildfire events.

Whether you're updating your emergency response plan or starting from scratch, this is an opportunity to learn directly from peers who have navigated wildfire events.

View Webinar

ZDR3 staff explain the process, from the moment a request comes in to the coordination and mobilization of support teams. Learn how ZDR3 communicates with impacted facilities, how potential responder teams are identified and contacted, what kinds of support can be provided, and what it is like to have ZDR3 Responders at your facility.

This webinar is ideal for both new and existing partners who want a better understanding of how ZDR3 facilitates safe, appropriate, and collaborative deployments when it matters most.

View Webinar

Thank you to ZAA for providing these recordings, which are usually only available to members. If you’re not a member, consider joining!

ZDR3 Operations Manager Attended the Texas Emergency Management Conference

An ideal disaster responder is eager to keep learning and meeting peers. Like our Operations Manager, Cari Wittenborn. We met Cari when she worked at a zoo that flooded and received assistance from ZDR3; and we’re fortunate that she later made a leap of faith to join our then-fledgling nonprofit.

Anyone who has worked with Cari on a response can attest to the fact that she approaches her work with unique skills and knowledge—and great compassion for those she is assisting.

Cari recently represented ZDR3 at the Texas Emergency Management Conference, hosted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), at the Fort Worth Convention Center. This annual event is one of the largest and most influential emergency management events in the country. Attendees included local, state, tribal, and federal officials; nonprofit and private-sector partners; public health professionals; and emergency managers from across Texas and beyond.

Cari was delighted to spend more than 3 days reconnecting with past collaborators and building new relationships with individuals and organizations ZDR3 may coordinate with in the future. In the process, she helped raise awareness of ZDR3 and improved our access to critical information during responses. Sessions Cari attended deepened her knowledge in key areas including weather forecasting, disaster declaration steps, wildfire behavior and management, HPAI spread, and much more.

Cari’s takeaway? “With every new connection and insight, we strengthen our ability to respond swiftly and effectively, and to better support zoological facilities in planning, preparedness, and recovery.”

Meet Our Intern

We’re very pleased to announce that Konnor Roberts joined ZDR3 for a summer internship. Our small staff had never previously considered bringing an intern aboard, but Konnor’s experience, skills, and familiarity with ZDR3 made him an excellent candidate. We met Konnor in 2020 when the zoo where he then worked was devastated by Hurricane Laura.

Read more about Konnor, whose internship has been such a success he will be working for ZDR3 part time while he continues his education.

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