Fort Pierce Chimp Sanctuary Uses a Drone to Feed a Stranded Ape as Floodwater Swamps Save the Chimps

When floodwater cut off a 38-year-old chimpanzee named Kaleb inside an outdoor enclosure at Save the Chimps near Fort Pierce this week, staff sent his meals by air. The sanctuary, home to about 200 chimpanzees on a 150-acre property in St. Lucie County, used a delivery drone to bring Kaleb food and blankets after heavy rain from Sunday through Tuesday overflowed nearby canals and submerged the internal roads workers use to feed the apes, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

The animals stayed safe, and the water was finally receding significantly by Saturday, when about 20% of the property's roads were clear, the organization said.

A drone bought for an emergency like this

Facilities director Mark Yohannan told the AP that the overflowing canals covered the roads normally used to deliver about 3,000 pounds of chimp food a day by golf cart. A high-clearance swamp buggy helped at first but soon broke down.

Kaleb had remained in an outdoor area that the water had cut off from the rest of the sanctuary. The organization had bought a delivery drone some time ago for exactly this kind of emergency, Yohannan said, and staff used it to drop food and blankets to the chimp until he decided on his own to move somewhere more accessible.

Save the Chimps captured video of Kaleb eating a banana he pulled from a paper bag dropped by the drone, and later carefully crossing a rope that spanned standing water, according to the AP.

For the rest of the apes, staff turned to 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 AP. "They're good. They haven't missed a beat."

Staff stayed overnight

The storms soaked southeast and central Florida for three straight days, from Sunday, Nov. 1, through Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to the AP. The sanctuary's care houses, where the chimps live, sit on high ground and remained secure throughout the storm, CEO Ana Paula Tavares said in a statement. Some veterinarians and other employees stayed overnight on the property to make sure the animals were cared for.

Widespread flooding across the area made it hard for workers to get to the sanctuary to relieve colleagues who had been on site, Yohannan said. Even so, he told the AP that everyone was "in excellent spirits, tired as they are."

The floodwater also brought an unexpected visitor. A small alligator turned up near the sanctuary's kitchen on Friday, apparently using the high water to reach ground where alligators do not usually go, Yohannan said.

Why the water lingered

Water still covered much of the sanctuary five days after the heaviest rain, CBS12 reported, and Save the Chimps told the station that an overflowing local canal, the Header Canal, had kept floodwater from draining. The South Florida Water Management District issued an emergency order this week in response to flooding across several counties, including St. Lucie, according to the station.

The level finally dropped noticeably overnight Friday, Yohannan told the AP, opening up about a fifth of the roads by Saturday.

A historic deluge on the Treasure Coast

The rain that swamped the sanctuary was part of a stalled storm system that unloaded record totals along Florida's east coast beginning Nov. 1. WPTV reported that Fort Pierce recorded 5.39 inches in a single day of the event, nearly double the daily record of 2.24 inches set in 1946 and the city's third-highest November daily total. Over the full event, rainfall in St. Lucie County peaked at about 16.7 inches in Port St. Lucie, with roughly 13.7 inches measured in Fort Pierce, according to reported county totals. Totals elsewhere were far higher. Parts of southern Brevard County received roughly two feet of rain in 24 hours, and radar estimates topped 20 inches in parts of Palm Beach County.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Nov. 2 for Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Highlands, DeSoto and Hardee counties, and expanded it the next day to seven more counties, including Palm Beach, Okeechobee and Volusia. Two people died in flooding in Brevard County. In St. Lucie County, officials reported about 120 high-water rescues and water-related calls, CBS12 reported, and Port St. Lucie police evacuated residents from flooded neighborhoods as water lingered for days. County schools closed and emergency shelters opened as the water rose, the station reported. Just to the north, Sebastian in Indian River County measured about 14.5 inches, and fast-moving water swept vehicles away in Vero Lake Estates, according to reports compiled after the storm.

For a sanctuary whose daily routine depends on moving thousands of pounds of fresh produce across a sprawling property, that kind of rain turned basic feeding into a logistics problem.

About Save the Chimps

Save the Chimps was founded in 1997 and has cared for nearly 350 chimpanzees over the years, rescued from research laboratories, the pet trade and the entertainment industry, according to the AP.

Founder Carole Noon started the organization in a bid to retire chimpanzees the U.S. Air Force had used in research and put up for auction. She won custody of 21 of them after suing the Air Force, and the sanctuary later took in all 266 chimpanzees held by the Coulston Foundation, a New Mexico biomedical research lab that filed for bankruptcy in 2002, a rescue described as the largest of its kind. Most of the chimps in Fort Pierce live in large social groups on 12 separate three-acre islands spread across the property, a layout that makes passable roads essential for daily feeding. The sanctuary is not open to the public.

What's next

The organization is appealing to the public for help repairing damaged buildings and equipment, and one donor has agreed to match contributions, the AP reported. Yohannan is scheduled to speak about the flooding emergency at a North St. Lucie River Water District meeting at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9, in Fort Pierce, according to CBS12. Staff will continue reopening roads as the water recedes.