They too saw the flames up close. 370 animals out of 850 from the Arcachon zoo have been evacuated at the beginning of the week following the fire in Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde. The operation, coordinated by the National Association of Zoological Parks, brought together around fifteen zoos, including the Parc du Reynou.
Located in the town of Vigen, next to Limoges, the park supports seven little animals since Tuesday evening: a couple of red pandasof Biturongs (Asian mammal), Lapwing soldiers (small wading birds), or even a female raccoon were urgently repatriated.
– Salome Pineda
Nicolas Lefrère the director, was on site in Gironde. With a team from the Park, they left for the first time on Monday before returning urgently the next day: “In less than an hour, we put in three vehicles and five people. We dropped everything that was not urgent. We helped capture and move the animals that we could move.”
Because at first, it was a question of putting the animals in safety. “There are some that we captured rather easily and others that were more difficult to catch. We mounted the tapirs in a carrot van”says Nicolas Lefrère. In the smoke, less than 100 meters from the flamesthe director of Reynou retains solidarity: “On site we had the firefighters, the gendarmes, the French Office for Biodiversity which is in charge of monitoring wild animals, to help us reference the displaced animals.”
The welcome is temporary, but it will last as long as it takes, assures Nicolas Lefrère. Everything is done to take care of the animals in the best possible conditionssuch as red pandas, arrived in pairs so as not to be disturbed and settled in what usually serves as a quarantine zone: “It’s a transition zone which is better than a box. There is veterinary monitoring, but they have a normal diet, they eat and drink. Between the high temperatures and the movements, the catches, we see that they are all a bit amorphous but they are resting. The goal is to send them back to La Teste as soon as possible.”