Zoo Story

By Jere Hough Meteorologist / Feature Reporter

Between Hurricane Ivan and the Animal Planet Network, the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo has received a lot of attention. Now it's working toward a major move...to higher, drier, and much bigger ground. And through it all, its residents continue to delight, impress, and generally entertain. Zoo Story

Published: Wed, May 28, 2008 - 4:05 pm Last Updated: Wed, May 28, 2008 - 4:52 pm

Jere Hough

The mess and monumental headaches from Ivan are gone. Now 465 furred, feathered, and scaled residents are all on display...the lemurs are looking around, the tortoises are racing (for them) around, and some just hanging around, like a red headed parrot, hanging by his beak. There are sleepers, pacers, preeners, and parents.
Patti Hall, Director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, cradles a baby monkey in her hands. "Well, we're happy this summer to have our guests meet little Lulu. She's an eight-week-old capuchin."...who is already quite a climber! The monkey climbs on top of Hall's head. She hand-raised Lulu after the mother got sick.
Baby animals can be irresistible...especially if they're furry, cute, and playful...like a tiger cub. A zoo guest is having a "tiger encounter."
Hall explains the term. "You know where you swim with the dolphins? Well, you can have a one-on-one tiger encounter with these baby tigers."
Those "encounters" are part of a larger mission that guides this zoo.
"Our feeling is that unless you can see and feel and touch," says Hall, "it just doesn't mean anything when you see them 'way far away or behind a glass."
To schedule a tiger encounter this summer go to their website or call the Zoo at (251) 968-5731.