How zoos are preparing animals for this weekend’s massive winter storm

How zoos prepare for winter storms

By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron

Millions of people in the United States are bracing for a massive winter storm this weekend, with plunging temperatures, “catastrophic” ice accumulation, freezing rain and heavy snow, authorities say. But humans aren’t the only ones hiding; zoos across the country are also preparing for the winter storm.

In Texas, the Houston Zoo has equipped its buildings and barns with heaters “designed to withstand extreme conditions,” the zoo said in a blog post on Friday. Animals will have access to extra hay and bedding, and food will be stored in advance. “Throughout the zoo, sensitive plants are protected by covers and generators are positioned to provide backup power if needed,” the blog states.

Elsewhere in the state, the Dallas Zoo reportedly plans to bring many of its animals indoors and step up enrichment activities such as keeper trainings, food puzzles and nature sounds. “Humans can stay inside and watch Netflix,” said Keith Zdrojewski, zoo curator. Dallas Morning News. “When animals stay indoors for several days, it can become quite boring for them.”

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Likewise, the Fort Worth Zoo welcomed its endangered Pan’s box turtles indoors. Fort Worth Star Telegram reported. Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, animal care staff plan to stay overnight at the zoo to keep an eye on the animals, according to the Cincinnati Zoo. And in Washington, D.C., if temperatures drop below 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 degrees Celsius), as they are currently predicted, species at the Smithsonian National Zoo, including Asian small-clawed otters, brown pelicans, orangutans and gorillas, will likely also be taken indoors, per standard zoo procedures.

Other animals, of course, will do just fine in the cold. At the Philadelphia Zoo, officials expect Marcy the snow leopard to do well this weekend, according to a local report. And in Sedgwick County, Kansas, an Amur tiger, a species very well adapted to low temperatures, “loves” the cold.

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