As storm nears, concern for animals a major issue

MIAMI — The evacuation took 12 seconds.

As bands of Hurricane Irma started making their arrival at Zoo Miami early Saturday, Diesel was led from his rainsoaked cage, walked a few feet into a nearby reinforced building and settled in next to another cheetah in their new temporary home with a hay-covered floor. Until Irma passes, that’s where they’ll stay.

“We’re as ready as we can be,” Zoo Miami spokesman Ron Magill said when the move was complete.

Such was the sentiment around Florida on Saturday, where zoos, theme parks, rescue centers and other places with animals were bracing for Hurricane Irma’s arrival. Five dolphins were moved from the Florida Keys to Central Florida in advance of the storm, but most zoos and the like in the Miami area said they were trying to keep their animals in place and secure from whatever Irma will bring.

Hundreds of thoroughbreds were moved from low-lying areas of Gulfstream Park, near Miami, to other training facilities and barns farther north. Some animal shelters were relocating dogs and cats to safer facilities, and a humane society near Tampa said it needed temporary foster homes for more than 100 dogs — a necessary move since Irma’s track was headed west toward the Gulf side of the peninsula Saturday.

SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will have workers on-site at all hours to care for and monitor the animals. SeaWorld also took in the five adult male dolphins from Dolphin Discovery in Duck Key, where officials said they will stay “until they can be safely returned to their home in the Florida Keys.”

In Key West, when inmates were moved out of Monroe County Jail and relocated to Palm Beach County, residents from the county sheriff’s animal farm — 250 animals that have been abandoned, abused, confiscated or donated — moved in. Officials said Saturday the jail cells are much safer for the animals than their regular farm quarters.