Tampa zoo volunteers will ‘ride out’ Milton with the animals

Volunteers will hunker down in Tampa to safeguard one of Florida’s most vulnerable populations from Hurricane Milton: the animals.

The so-called “ride-out team” of roughly a dozen staffers from ZooTampa — including care staff and a medic — is set to stay behind and seek shelter with scared animals after giving up the chance to evacuate the region, a zoo spokesperson said.

They’ve scrambled over the last 24 hours to move larger animals — such as elephants and giraffes — into onsite barns that are built to withstand major storms, while smaller mammals and birds have been caged up in the facility’s main buildings.

“During the storm, a ride-out team made up of animal care, animal health, safety, maintenance, and horticulture will stay on-site to care for the animals, monitor life support systems, manage generators, and assess damage,” the spokesperson said.

Over at the Florida Aquarium, staffers had already evacuated a slew of animals — including a smack of moon jellies, six snakes, three lizards, three turtles, two alligators, two toads and even a hermit crab.

A horde of nine African penguins were also moved to higher ground on Tuesday amid fears of severe flooding from the 12-foot storm surge set to ravage the Tampa Bay region.

Thousands of corals, too, had already been relocated to other parts of Florida in anticipation of the incoming hurricane.

During the storm, the ride-out employees would be monitoring the life support systems of the marine animals and managing generators to make sure the aquarium’s filtration systems remain active.

“The safety of our animals is our top priority,” Florida Aquarium president Roger Germann said. 

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“And we take every precaution to ensure their well-being during extreme weather events like Hurricane Milton.”

Meanwhile, the team at Croc Encounters reptile park was racing to prepare their more than 100 alligators, crocodiles and snakes to weather the storm.

The crocs and gators were being placed in a steel shipping container, alongside the double-bagged up snakes, the park’s owner, John Paner, told the Washington Post.

“You can drop a tree on it and not have a problem,” he said of the steel container.

“You got to hope for the best,” Paner added of the storm prep. “And it goes from there.”

The preparations came as millions of residents were already ordered to evacuate as Milton fluctuated between a category 4 and 5 storm as it churned toward the coast.

The Tampa Bay region, which is home to more than 3.3 million people, hasn’t seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century.

“Everybody in Tampa Bay should assume we are going to be ground zero,” said Cathie Perkins, the emergency management director in Pinellas County.

Meanwhile, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor had another dire warning to residents in evacuation zones who planned to ride out Hurricane Milton in their houses, saying it was a death wish.

“Individuals that are in these, say you’re in a single-story home… 12 feet is above that house,” she said in an address late Tuesday. “So, if you’re in it, you know, basically that’s the coffin you’re in.”