After Hurricane Isaias swept across Florida’s Panhandle, Gulf Breeze Zoo reopened Friday morning, Oct. 16, after days of animal checks, protective moves and recovery preparations. WKRG’s report from the reopening said no animals were hurt. The zoo’s own recovery update described a storm team staying on-site, staff checking on animals as conditions allowed, and cleanup that was still changing how parts of the grounds looked. The gates reopened while recovery work continued. The day before the opening, the Pensacola News Journal reported that the zoo’s Oct. 14 notice described Friday as a tentative reopening, subject to final confirmation. WKRG reported the next morning that the zoo had reopened.
The zoo said teams across departments spent the 48 hours before the hurricane securing facilities and protecting the animals in their care. A dedicated ride-out team remained at the zoo during the storm and began checking animals once it was safe to do so. Additional staff returned on Saturday, the zoo said, and its full staff was back by Sunday. Workers from Alabama Safari Park also came to help.
That preparation was part of a wider animal-response effort. The zoo says it has worked with Zoological Disaster Response, Rescue, and Recovery, or ZDR3, for several years. Its update says Gulf Breeze Zoo serves as an incident base for ZDR3 teams, offering lodging and logistical support during deployments. The zoo said that role continued during the week of Isaias while it also supported other facilities recovering from the storm. The zoo says it was among ZDR3’s first network members when the organization began in 2020.
Zoo Director Hunter Hullet told WKRG that staff began moving animals on Wednesday afternoon and continued through Friday morning. Keepers crated many animals and moved them into what Hullet described as safer, stronger buildings, taking account of large trees that could fall. WKRG reported that the zoo cares for more than 1,000 animals and quoted Hullet saying every animal was safe.
The zoo’s own Oct. 13 update said giraffes, a rhino and many other animals were back in their habitats, while others were settling into familiar routines. During cleanup, some animals could spend extra time in behind-the-scenes holding areas as crews cleared debris and operated equipment. The zoo said wind gusts reached 117 mph and described damage to trees and landscaping as significant, noting some trees had shaded animals and families for generations. WKRG, reporting after reopening, characterized the park’s debris damage as minimal while also noting that some enclosures had been affected. The accounts use different descriptions, so neither should be substituted for the other.
One temporary change became part of the visitor experience. WKRG reported that flamingos were staying in the budgie aviary while workers cleaned their original exhibit. Keepers had started calling the arrangement “fla-budgie” or “fla-bougie,” Hullet told the station. It gave guests an unusual view of the birds as the staff finished work on the regular spaces.
The reopening also restored a familiar outing for local visitors. WKRG spoke with a zoo visitor identified as Adam, who brought Rose to see the animals after the park opened. He said the return felt a little more normal; Rose fed animals and said hello to the cows. The account offers a small, reported example of what the reopening meant for visitors without suggesting that the zoo’s wider community had completed its recovery.
The zoo’s official account said fallen trees and other debris still required clearing and that animals’ safety would guide where they stayed during the work. Its recovery update described the landscape as changed but said the zoo remained focused on animal care and rebuilding. The zoo’s Boo at the Zoo page says the event’s first two weekends were canceled after Isaias and rescheduled for Oct. 24–25 and Oct. 31–Nov. 1; tickets from the canceled dates will be honored at the remaining dates. For the park, reopening was a return to public visits, with cleanup and adjustments still underway.
Neither the zoo’s update nor WKRG gave a debris-removal total, a schedule for returning animals to every original exhibit, or a full animal-by-animal inventory. The zoo’s update said it would wait for power and safe pathways before reopening. That set a practical threshold for welcoming visitors without suggesting that all maintenance or cleanup had finished.
Reader responses