Big Bear zoo animals to return home after Line fire prompted evacuation to a Palm Desert zoo

Animals from the Big Bear Alpine Zoo that were transported to Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert last week to evacuate from the Line fire could be returning back home on Thursday.

Conditions due to the Line fire, which started on Sept. 5, have calmed down enough for Big Bear’s zoo animals to return home, as long as wildfire conditions continue to lessen, according to Jessica Whiton, a Zoo Curator at Big Bear Alpine Zoo.

On Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department lifted an evacuation warning for Big Bear City.

What did it take for almost 50 animals to be transported from Big Bear to Palm Desert, a community southeast of Palm Springs? It began with a call.

Last Wednesday morning, the two zoos hopped on a phone call to discuss the possibility of transporting animals from Big Bear to a temporary home in Palm Desert until wildfire conditions settle down.

Both zoos knew they had to act quickly. Heather Down, Animal Care Curator at The Living Desert, and her teammates mobilized after getting off the phone to an office with a whiteboard. The crew needed to take stock of what resources they could provide, such as animal enclosures, in case the Big Bear team would make the decision to begin transporting their animals that day.

The following morning, the Big Bear team made the call to Living Desert. They decided it would be best to evacuate animals that are more vulnerable to smoke, such as birds.

Zoo workers transporting Big Bear Alpine Zoo's animals to their temporary home at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, Calif. (Courtesy of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens). — Zoo workers transporting Big Bear Alpine Zoo’s animals to their temporary home at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert Calif. (Courtesy of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens).

The process of getting the animals in their cages didn’t pose a significant challenge to the Big Bear team, since the animals are crate-trained.

“There was no real rush. We just felt that it was safer for the animals in the long run to get them out of that smoke and out of their kennels,” said Whiton.

Almost 50 animals were transported. Foxes, skunks, other small mammals, and many different species of birds traveled in three vehicles from Big Bear to Palm Desert two hours away.

A group of great horned owls at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert after being evacuated from Big Bear's Alpine Zoo to escape conditions from the Line fire. (Courtesy of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens). — A group of great horned owls at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert after being evacuated from Big Bear’s Alpine Zoo to escape conditions from the Line fire. (Courtesy of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens).

The animals that remained at Big Bear’s zoo, such as snow leopards and bears, have access to a back room in their enclosures equipped with an HVAC system to keep the air quality high.

Whitton said transporting the other larger animals would have meant putting them through a very stressful situation.

“We decided to wait and see how the fire progressed and if we thought that if you got to a point where they were going to be in danger, we were going to bring them down,” she said.

A group of Big Bear’s animal keepers also traveled to Palm Desert along with a supply of food their animals normally eat. Keeping the same routine the animals had at Big Bear is important during this temporary stay at the Palm Desert zoo, said Allison Krupp, Living Desert’s vice president of communications.

This isn’t the first time Big Bear’s zoo had to evacuate their animals due to a wildfire. Back in 2002, the Alpine Zoo transported their animals to Living Desert.

Big Bear’s Alpine Zoo has been closed since Sept. 9 and has a tentative reopening date of Saturday, Sept. 21.

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