Moody Gardens' Animals Sheltered At Gladys Porter Zoo

By Ciri Haugh

Brownsville, TX - The wake of Hurricane Ike left more than just people displaced from their homes. Over 100 animals from Galveston’s Moody Gardens have been moved to South Texas’ Gladys Porter Zoo due to the severity of the damage sustained by the organization’s Rainforest exhibit. Approximately 80 percent of the Rainforest Pyramid’s animal collection, mainly freshwater fish and two percent of the plants did not survive the storm surge from Hurricane Ike. Flooding caused saltwater to rise through the building’s basement and into the exhibit threatening the freshwater fish. Approximately 10,000 animals that reside in the Moody Gardens Aquarium Pyramid survived the storm.

“During this extraordinary time of need, we are just glad that our zoo can offer a helping hand,” said Colette Adams, General Curator.

The animals currently residing at the Gladys Porter Zoo from Moody Gardens include two-toed sloths, sugar gliders, Egyptian fruit bats, short-tailed bats, Prevosts squirrels, white and brown pelicans, coscoroba swans, ne-ne geese, caiman lizards, a Meller’s chameleon, prehensile tailed skinks, Solomon Island ground skinks, a New Caledonian crested gecko, Madagascar giant day geckos, tokay geckos, dwarf caiman, and a Chinese alligator.

Animals from Moody Garden’s Rainforest Pyramid have been sent to zoos and aquariums around the nation, awaiting the completed restoration of the exhibit. Some of the animals currently residing at the Gladys Porter Zoo may be introduced into the habitats on public display within the next few months. Two caiman lizards, along with a host of pelicans, are the first of the Moody Garden animals to make their Rio Grande Valley debut; the lizards are being housed and displayed in the Herpetarium’s Aquatic Wing and the pelicans can be seen along the resaca in the South American section of the zoo.

All of the animals from Moody Gardens have been added to the zoo’s “Adopt an Animal” campaign. If you are interested in adopting a Moody Gardens animal or donating to their upkeep, please visit our Web site at www.gpz.org or call (956) 546-7187 for more information. For additional details on the Moody Gardens clean up and reconstruction effort, visit www.moodygardens.com or call (800) 582-4673.

About the Gladys Porter Zoo
The Gladys Porter Zoo is a visitor oriented zoological and botanical park, dedicated to the preservation of nature through education, conservation and research. The Zoo is open 365 days a year and its hours of operation are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the weekends. Regular admission for adults is $9.00 (ages 14 – 64), $6.00 for children (ages 2 to 13) and seniors 65 and over receive a discounted admission of $7.50. Children 1 and under are free. For more information, visit www.gpz.org.

500 RINGGOLD STREET BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS 78520
ACCREDITED MEMBER, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS