Monday, facing the intensity fire which touches the town of La-Teste-de-Buch, in Girondethe prefecture ordered the emergency evacuation, and in a preventive manner, of the zoo of the Bassin d’Arcachon. During the day, but also during the night from Monday to Tuesday, 363 of 850 animals of the zoo were “transported by special convoys escorted by the police to a security zone set up on the site of the Bordeaux-Pessac zoo, located 65 kilometers from the zoo of the Bassin d’Arcachon, with the decisive assistance of the French Association of Zoological Parks and State Services, ”said the Ministry for Ecological Transition in a press release.
Other zoos will continue to welcome some of these animals on Tuesday, especially the most vulnerable. In total, 100 keepers and veterinarians from other zoos and agents from the French Office for Biodiversity came to supplement the teams from the zoo in the Arcachon basin to save as many animals as possible and protect the site from the fire. If almost all of the animals were saved, “a dozen unfortunately did not survive the high heat and stress”, specifies the ministry.
Large animals kept in place
Firefighters and teams of animal caretakers from the zoo ensured the protection of the animals remaining on the site. These are the biggest animals, but they are not “directly threatened by the flames”ensures the prefecture of the Gironde.
