The BC Wildlife Park has contingency plans in place should it be ordered to evacuate the nearly 200 animals at the park because of wildfires.
General Manager Glenn Grant tells NL News the Kamloops park, like properties in Dallas, Barnhartvale, and Campbell Creek, is on an evacuation alert right now. That has led to staff going over their plans Friday morning.
“So we do have a Plan A. We have a Plan B. We have a Plan C, and we got contingencies for all of them. We also have an extensive fire prevention plan,” Grant told NL News. “We will have some of our sprinklers on. We have purchased some water pumps where hoses can be put into Campbell Creek. Hopefully, we don’t get to there but you can’t be over prepared.”
Each of the animals have their own specific evacuation plans, based on their needs. In involves moving the animals within a 50-kilometre radius of Kamloops. If that is not possible because of capacity issues, the animals could be taken as far as Armstrong or Barriere, or even further, if needed.
“This goes back to some of the operative training and positive reinforcement training that we’ve been doing with a lot of our animals over the years,” he added.
“Animals that can be put into a crate, those crates are right near the habitat, right near an area that they can be used quickly and efficiently. There are a couple of species though, specially the six bears that would be difficult to relocate somewhere but we do have a sprinkler system that can keep that location wet.”
The Wildlife Park is open right now, but there are no activities like animal encounters or the mini train at this time.