As thousands of people evacuate from wildfires raging in Spain, staff at Safari Madrid have others in mind.
From birds to reptiles to big cats, everything was in danger and needed to be saved.
As the flames approached the safari park, the management team remained to care for the animals, herding them in air-conditioned indoor concrete enclosures to protect them from the flames. And as the sky turned orange and the air filled with thick gray smoke, they hosed down surrounding areas to ward off the flames.
When wildfires raged west of Madrid last week, scorching 131 square miles of land, Safari Madrid was just one bulwark in a region-wide effort to rescue countless animals from farms and sanctuaries threatened by wildfires.
In San Martín de Valdeiglesias, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Madrid, a bullring has been converted into a makeshift shelter for horses, ponies, donkeys, goats, cats and dogs, Mayor Aranzas Pobedano Fraguera said.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Civil Guard sprang into action. “We will leave no one behind, no matter what,” he wrote on Instagram, along with social media videos showing members evacuating horses and goats, comforting cows and chickens, and checking on ostriches, camels and alligators at farms across the region.
Other videos showed members rescuing household pets such as cats and dogs.
“When we evacuated them they looked so helpless, confused and completely frozen. But they are another family member and even more so in a situation like this,” the private security guard posted.
Safari Back in Madrid, the park hosted around 1,000 animals, as well as evacuees from the Cuna Ibérica Wildlife Center, a nearby sanctuary that rescues injured and abandoned animals.
As the blaze progressed, Safari Madrid took temporary custody of a Eurasian lynx, an Iberian wolf (both of which required anesthesia during transport), and four vultures.
“The evacuation plan was to take everything we could, evacuate everything we could,” said Isaac Navarro, director of Cuna Ibérica. Some of their animals were transferred to Alfonso X El Sabio University, while others, such as birds of prey, were adopted by another Madrid-based wildlife conservation center.
“We have never experienced a situation like this, never faced a fire like this. (The evacuation) was done as quickly as possible,” Navarro said.
Cuna Ibérica staff opened the enclosure gate to temporarily let some of the remaining animals escape, and then gathered them back the next morning to care for them. Because they are protected animals that cannot be released into the wild and are completely dependent on their human caretakers, the animals stayed nearby and returned home as soon as it was safe. It was a close call as flames came up to 10 meters (32 feet) from the facility, but the animals were unharmed, Navarro said.
At Safari Madrid, the flames eventually reached within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of the park before turning in a different direction. But the danger still remained.
“During the day, we inspected the burnt land and extinguished logs that were still burning and could rekindle,” park spokesperson José Luis Cano Becerro told CNN.
Caretakers remained on alert for two nights, and by the second night they felt safe enough to sleep, he said. “There was always some anxiety, but things got better with each passing day.”
Thankfully, all the animals survived, but some were a little agitated.
Animals at the park are used to spending some time in indoor enclosures for veterinary checks, but some said this was the first time they had been kept in captivity for more than a day.
“Some of the animals were a little excited,” Cano Becero said. “We believe this is because they had to stay indoors for too long and were not able to go outside, which is not normal in their daily life. The adolescent male Asian elephant in particular was a bit restless, but nothing to worry about.”
“In the end, we are left with the bitter feeling that the whole area was burned, but at least all our animals are safe,” said Navarro, from Cuna Ibérica, where all the animals have been returned.
Safari Madrid also saw animals returned to their habitat and parks reopened to visitors.
But with smoke drifting into the distance and the government warning the public to remain vigilant, it may be a while before administrators feel safe again.
