April 26, 2011 (Newswire.com) - You may have heard, watched or read the story...a seaside community zoo becomes the first U.S. zoo to perform a full-scale, total evacuation during a hurricane. The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo made headlines in 2004 when Zoo Director Patti Hall relocated over 270 exotic zoo animals, a staff and their families, to her inland home to wait out Hurricane Ivan (category 4 storm). The zoo was destroyed, and while rebuilding, endured two more unprecedented evacuations ten months later during Hurricanes Dennis and Katrina.
For the first time in history, a zoo will be built from the ground up that will define every aspect of the term Green. Not only will it become the ultimate in sustainability, but also provide a new, almost entirely "hurricane-proof" home to the 400 animals that currently live at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo.
