When the temperatures fall, people often think of dogs and cats. But what about the animals at zoos across South Carolina?
At Bee City, giraffes, sloths, monkeys and more bask in the glow of heaters
While Siberian tigers are built to withstand frigid temperatures, staff at Bee City are bringing more than 200 animals — including their two striped big cats — to inside enclosures and adding heaters to outside areas as extreme cold moves into the Lowcountry.
The interactive Cottageville zoo, founded in 1993, is bracing for overnight lows in the upper teens, with wind chills potentially dropping into the single digits.
In response, many animals — including giraffes, otters, lemurs, sloths, monkeys and more — are being moved into enclosed buildings with backup heat, while outdoor habitats are being outfitted with supplemental heaters. Temperatures are monitored remotely and animal care staff will remain onsite overnight.
“We have dual sources of heat and backup generators just in case,” said Scott Biering, owner of Bee City. “I’m not taking any chances.”
Biering said the zoo relies on propane generators that automatically activate during power outages. Several animals are being relocated to larger buildings with secondary heat sources and multiple layers of redundancy.
“We’ve been preparing for this for about 10 days,” Biering said. “We already had our protocols in place from the last snow, but we’re doing a little extra this time because of the possibility of 0-degree wind chills.”
The zoo has stocked more than two weeks’ worth of food and supplies. About a dozen full-time animal care staff members, along with part-time weekend workers, will help monitor conditions around-the-clock.
Bee City will be closed to the public Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in anticipation of the forecast. The zoo is typically closed Mondays and Tuesdays during the winter season.
While the area saw snowfall the same month last year, temperatures remained relatively mild.
The last comparable cold snap occurred more than a decade ago. Biering said staff are applying lessons learned from that experience as they prepare for the weekend’s temperatures.
“Tomorrow night at midnight, when it’s snowing and 0 degrees, it’s not the time to be out there fixing heaters,” Biering said.
Charles Towne Landing in West Ashley — another Lowcountry zoo home to pumas, black bears, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, otters, bison, pelicans and other marine birds — did not return a request for comment on weekend weather preparations.
At Brookgreen Gardens, horses get blankets, otters have playtime
While Grand Strand residents were making preparations Jan. 30 for a rare winter storm, the four-legged denizens at Brookgreen Gardens’ Lowcountry Zoo near Murrells Inlet were also getting ready for the inclement weather.
With the weekend forecast calling for heavy snowfall, strong winds and plunging temperatures, the caretakers at the Lowcountry Zoo and Floyd Family Farm that houses domesticated animals, as well as ones in the wild, were taking precautions.
Andrea DeMuth, vice president and curator of zoo collections at Brookgreen, said because of the zoo’s mission of housing and rehabilitating native species, most of the animals are equipped to weather the storm.
