Fort Pierce, Florida: Drone Feeds Stranded Chimp Kaleb as Floodwater Swamps Save the Chimps

Staff at the Save the Chimps sanctuary near Fort Pierce, Florida, fed one of their 200 apes by drone this week after three days of rain flooded the 150-acre property and cut the animal off from his caretakers. Every chimp stayed safe, the sanctuary said, and the water was receding significantly by Saturday.

The chimp is Kaleb, who is 38. He had stayed in an outdoor area that floodwater cut off from the rest of the sanctuary, the Associated Press reported. The organization had bought a delivery drone some time ago for just such an emergency, facilities director Mark Yohannan said. Staff used it to bring Kaleb food and blankets until he decided on his own to head for somewhere more accessible.

Save the Chimps video shows Kaleb eating a banana he took from a drone-dropped paper bag, then picking his way across a rope that bridged some standing water.

Three days of rain put the roads under water

Rainstorms soaked southeast and central Florida from Sunday through Tuesday. TCPalm, the Treasure Coast newspaper, put the event at 60 hours, from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3, and said the most rain recorded in St. Lucie County was 16.7 inches in Port St. Lucie, about two miles west of the St. Lucie River, according to the National Weather Service.

The chimps' care houses sit on high ground and stayed secure, chief executive Ana Paula Tavares said in a statement. Their island homes are also on high ground and the animals were not threatened by the water, the sanctuary said in a Nov. 6 update. Essential staff stayed overnight on Nov. 2 to care for the chimps, the first time the sanctuary used its emergency weather protocol outside the threat of a hurricane or a tropical storm.

Canals overflowed and submerged the internal roads. Golf carts normally deliver 3,000 pounds of chimp food a day over those roads. A high-clearance swamp buggy helped for a while, Yohannan said, but it soon broke down.

Trucks, a tractor, and one small alligator

For the rest of the apes, staff used trucks, including a maintenance worker's personal vehicle, and a tractor to deliver meals, medicine and other supplies. "Chimps are getting all their food, bananas and oranges on time," Yohannan told the Associated Press. "They're good. They haven't missed a beat."

The flood also moved the local wildlife. A small alligator turned up by the sanctuary kitchen on Friday, Yohannan said, apparently using the floodwaters to reach ground where alligators do not usually go.

The cleanup ahead

The water level dropped noticeably overnight Friday, and about 20 percent of the property's roads were clear on Saturday. Staff are working through damage to roads, vehicles and equipment, and the sanctuary said roof repairs and mold work are needed so far, with the full damage assessed once the water recedes.

The organization is asking the public for help fixing damaged buildings and equipment, and one donor has agreed to match contributions, the Associated Press reported.

Save the Chimps was founded in 1997 by the late Carole Noon. It has cared for nearly 350 chimpanzees to date, animals taken from research laboratories, the pet trade and the entertainment industry.