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Winter 2025 - 2026 was record-breaking for many zoological facilities across the U.S. It was certainly the most active winter storm season ZDR3 experienced since we were formed in 2019. We appreciate how many of you were willing to put your teams on standby to assist peers when winter weather and other potential disasters were threatening to impact zoological facilities in January and February.
Winter Storm Fern was predicted to dump inches of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and ice across a significant swath of the country. We reached out to more than 100 ZDR3 Network facilities facing potential impact to understand their possible needs and concerns, to assure them we were monitoring conditions and were available 24/7, and to remind them how to contact us if they needed assistance with preparation and/or response. We asked response teams across the U.S. to stand by for possible deployments, including those who could provide generators and other resources for facilities that lost power.
Winter Storm Gianna evolved soon after Fern. We remained in touch with those who were threatened by the storms, and the standby teams until we were certain no one required assistance.
Then the Blizzard of 2026 threatened the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions with extraordinary amounts of snow, even in areas where snowfall is common.
Coastal Wilds, a zoological park in Delaware, faced record-breaking snowfall that impacted both their site and the entire region. The site lost power, then their generators began to fail, and a lynx enclosure’s roof collapsed under the weight of snow. The lynx, Sasha, had already been moved to a separate secure holding area, where she was safe for the duration of the storm and during habitat repairs.
Within five hours of contacting ZDR3, a team from Plumpton Park Zoo arrived with two generators. Keystone Safari and Catoctin Wildlife Preserve remained on standby to assist with additional generators and enclosure reconstruction. Fortunately, Coastal Wilds was able to quickly stabilize and resume their recovery process.
We applaud the leadership and team at Coastal Wilds for their preparedness efforts on behalf of their animals, and their actions to rally additional support both through collaboration with ZDR3 and effective messaging via social media and media channels.
Learn more.
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