Flooded sanctuary uses drones to take food to chimps

A Florida chimpanzee sanctuary had to deliver food to one of its 200 apes by drone last week because the property was swamped by heavy rain, but the animals stayed safe, and the water finally was receding significantly on Saturday, the organization said.

As rainstorms soaked southeast and central Florida from Nov. 1 through Tuesday last week, Save the Chimps’ care houses were secure on high ground, chief executive officer Ana Paula Tavares said in a statement. Some veterinarians and other employees stayed overnight on the 61-hectare property near Fort Pierce to ensure the animals’ care.

Canals overflowed and submerged the internal roads that normally are used to deliver 1.4 tonnes of chimp food per day via golf carts, facilities director Mark Yohannan said by phone. A high-clearance swamp buggy helped, but soon broke down. And one chimp, a 38-year-old named Kaleb, had remained in an outdoor area that was cut off by water.

A chimpanzee named Kaleb eats a banana from a bag of food delivered to him by a drone amid flooding at the Save the Chimps sanctuary near Fort Pierce on Wednesday last week.

Photo: Save the Chimps via AP

The organization bought a delivery drone some time ago for just such an emergency, Yohannan said. Staffers used the device to bring Kaleb food and blankets until he decided on his own to head for somewhere more accessible.

Save the Chimps captured video of Kaleb munching a banana he plucked from a drone-dropped paper bag, and later steadily picking his way across a rope that bridged some standing water.

The organization used trucks, including a maintenance worker’s personal vehicle, and a tractor to deliver meals, medicine and other items to the rest of the apes.

“Chimps are getting all their food, bananas and oranges on time,” Yohannan said. “They’re good. They haven’t missed a beat.”

Nor have the local alligators. A small one turned up by the sanctuary’s kitchen on Friday, apparently using the floodwaters to reach terrain where the reptiles do not usually tread, Yohannan said.

The water level dropped noticeably overnight on Friday, and about 20 percent of the property’s roads were clear Saturday, Yohannan said.

Widespread flooding in the area has made it difficult for employees to get to work to relieve their colleagues, but “everyone’s in excellent spirits, tired as they are,” he said.

The organization is appealing to the public for help fixing damaged buildings and equipment, and one donor has agreed to match such contributions.

Save the Chimps was founded in 1997. To date, it has cared for nearly 350 chimps from research laboratories, the pet trade and the entertainment industry.