This Weekend Half-Price Admission, 2 Cuddly Newborns At Zoo Miami

MIAMI, FL — Zoo Miami reopens this weekend with half-price admission and two cuddly newborns after a month-long hiatus courtesy of Hurricane Irma. The zoo's Ron Magill tells Patch that the hurricane also delivered an unplanned upgrade to the hyena exhibit. A fallen ficus tree has been turned into a learning experience for children and a virtual jungle gym for the dog-like scavengers.

You can count the days, hours, minutes and seconds until Zoo Miami reopens by clicking here.

"We had the birth of a anoa, a highly endangered little baby wild cow from Vietnam that hasn’t seen any public yet," Magill told Patch ahead of Saturday's reopening. "We also have a baby greater kudu that was born that the public has not seen yet. So, these are two animals that will be out on the exhibit that haven’t seen any public — and the public hasn’t, of course, seen them either." (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Miami Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The first thousand people who come through the gates at Zoo Miami on Saturday and Sunday will receive a free pair of Zoo Miami sunglasses. All of the exhibits will be open with the possible exception of one part of the jaguar exhibit that was damaged in the storm.

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Other than that, Magill said that storm debris has been removed.

"You’re going to see a little less shade — not a lot less but there were a significant amount of trees that were knocked over. We were able to restand some of them but some of them were not able to be saved," he explained. "They will remain as part of the new furniture at the zoo so to speak."

A case in point is the fallen ficus tree in the hyena exhibit.

"Probably the largest, most iconic tree that was knocked over fell on that exhibit,' Magill said. "It was so big that it was impossible to stand back up so we basically left it on the ground, trimmed off the top, and it serves as kind of a neat piece of furniture."

He said that the hyenas couldn't be more pleased.

"I mean the hyenas can crawl under it, crawl around it, crawl on top of it. And it’s this wonderful huge ficus tree that gives a lot of character to the exhibit, and in addition, now serves as a great visual reminder of the power of hurricanes," Magill explained. "We’re going to have a sign on the front that explains why this tree is tipped over, the fact that the winds of Hurricane Irma knocked it over."

All of the zoo staff pulled together to get the Miami institution back up and running.

"We did contract some arborists to come in here and stand up some of these trees. But the overwhelming majority of the work has been done by the zoo staff," Magill said. "People who normally collect tickets and sell memberships were sweeping and chain-sawing, and cleaning up the walkways."

In addition to the internal cleanup, the zoo was used by Florida Power & Light restoration crews as a staging area during the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

Unlike Hurricane Andrew that heavily damaged the zoo in 1992, Hurricane Irma caused little damage by comparison.

Consequently, Magill said he would rather see people send their donations to harder hit areas like the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico and other islands if they have a small amount to give.

"I was working at the zoo when Hurricane Andrew came through here and that was a much different storm," he said. "That was a storm that required a rebuilding effort. Irma requires a big cleanup. There’s a huge difference. Though we’ve lost some shade and we’re going to have to replace some shade and we always welcome a donation to replace these shade structures, the reality is if you have $1 to give, give it to the Keys. Give it to those people who need it far more desperately than we do."

His advice for first time Zoo Miami visitors? Keep making right turns.

"My natural inclination is always to go in a clockwise manner," he said. "So, I would come into the zoo and just stay to the right. The zoo is one huge circle. So if you take all your right turns and follow it around, you’ll take the whole loop that will take you eventually through the entire zoo."

A hyena explores the fallen ficus tree left behind by Hurricane Irma. Photo courtesy Zoo Miami.