Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce is recovering from severe flooding caused by 19 inches of rain, with staff working to restore operations and care for over 200 rescued chimpanzees.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. —
Save the Chimps, a 150-acre chimpanzee sanctuary in Fort Pierce, is recovering after 19 inches of rain caused historic flooding, disrupting operations and making it difficult for staff to care for more than 200 rescued chimpanzees.
Mark Yohannan, facilities director at Save the Chimps, said water levels have dropped significantly, allowing staff to regain access to most of the sanctuary’s roads.
“We’ve probably lost at least 7 or 8 inches of water. Now we have 1.2 miles of road here on property, 90% of that we can actually see and drive on. We expect the last little bit to dry up overnight,” Yohannan said.
Before the water began receding, staff faced challenges, including delivering food to a chimpanzee via drone. The sanctuary has 12 islands that house 11-21 chimpanzees in a family group. In total, there are 211 chimpanzees on the property.
“We saw that we had a situation. Caleb was the one that stayed out; he loves his island as many others do,” said Ana Paula Tavares, CEO of Save the Chimps. “He decided he was going to stay out until he realized that he was not going to be able to go indoors anymore because of the land bridge that connects the island to his indoor house got flooded as well. Not on all the islands, but on that island. That’s when we had to get creative and think, how can we drop fluid and food?”
The sanctuary’s chimps live on islands with care houses situated on higher ground, but staff struggled to navigate the flooded property.
“We have a lot of golf carts that care staff use to move themselves, staff, 3,000 pounds of food a day, and so, those were rendered inoperable because you couldn’t see the road; they’re battery carts… so we couldn’t do that. Not to mention some were damaged,” Yohannan said.
Employees have been relying on tractors, trailers, and large off-road vehicles to access the sanctuary. An overflowing header canal has slowed the water’s recession.
On Monday, Yohannan met with the St. Lucie Water River District to discuss the flooding.
“We left with the understanding that everyone already knows. This rain event was a 200-year event, and I think that the county’s working as hard as they can to get stuff moving,” Yohannan said. Despite the historic flood, rescue leaders felt they were mostly prepared but acknowledged areas for improvement.
“The one thing that came to mind is we have insurance…very good insurance but not flood insurance because we didn’t have floods in Florida. So now we do, or now we will look into that…that was one lesson learned,” Tavares said.
Yohannan added, “We would have needed some very large pumps, watched the forecast a little better maybe…but other than that I think we’re in the same boat as all the other neighbors. It’s the first thing that’s rained this hard in 200 years; I don’t know what we could’ve done to be more prepared.”
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