Shell Factory Nature Park It was not expected to reopen until at least January – possibly later.
Instead, animal lovers received an early Christmas present on Tuesday: Open Houses at North Fort Myers Park and about 350 animals delighted to greet their audiences once again.
“There are still things to do, obviously,” says Jason Paszkiewicz, deputy general manager of Shell Factory. But we wanted to open it not just for the guests to come back, but for the animals.
“They really miss the interaction – all the interaction with people. Because they’re so used to it.
Hurricane Ian tore through the nonprofit Nature Park on September 29. 28, chopping down trees, shredding aviaries, demolishing outbuildings and damaging most of the habitats of iguanas, porcupines, peacocks, alligators, lemurs and many other animals in the park.
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All of the animals survived, but they got a little bored without the usual visits from park visitors, says park manager Karen Schneider. “It will be exciting for the animals to see other faces than the same five or six people every day.”
However, the natural park has not yet returned to 100%. Only one of the aviaries has reopened, for example. And the Day of the Dinosaur exhibit needs to be repaired before people can safely walk through it.
“The T. Rex broke a hip,” Schneider says, smiling. Some dinosaurs are a bit iffy. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. »
The park reopened at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and dozens of people had already turned up by noon to pet goats, take pictures of alligators and feed the popular dromedary, Goofy.
Paige Navarro from North Fort Myers brought her 1 year old daughter and 3 year old son. They came every week before the park closed, she said.
“It gives us something to do,” Navarro said. “Children love all animals.”
Navarro said she wanted to come back as soon as she saw the park posting its reopening on Facebook on Tuesday. We are very happy that they are open again. And they haven’t lost any animals.
Ongoing recovery of Shell Factory Nature Park
It’s not easy to get there, says Schneider. Park workers have been working long hours since September clearing debris, repairing walkways, moving some animals to new habitats and more.
“These three months have been difficult, to say the least,” says Schneider. “There was so much to do.”
There were aviaries to rewire. Roofs to be built. Telephone poles to be installed. And a new air-conditioned building to replace the destroyed one that housed the park’s Eurasian eagle-owl, Hootie (which needs cooler temperatures than Southwest Florida).
Make this job even more difficult: fewer people to do it.
“A lot of our staff have unfortunately been moved,” says Schneider. Thus, the nature park still works with half the normal guards. But we will get there.
It wasn’t cheap either, and the nonprofit park is always asking for donations and sponsors to help feed the animals, make repairs, and build new habitats. A recent donation of $10,000, Schneider says, will go toward repairing the largest aviary.
Unlike the nearby for-profit Shell factory, the nature park is a non-profit organization that relies heavily on donations, with educational programs such as field trips and ticket sales which dried up completely during the park closure.
Additionally, there are plans underway — put in place before Ian — to expand the park slightly and build new habitats, says Schneider.
“We’re still moving forward,” she says. “We’re not going anywhere.”
The nature park has an ongoing GoFundMe fundraiser to pay for its repairs and feed the animals. It raised approximately $7,750.
To help you, visit bit.ly/3U6NK0c.
Connect with this journalist: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. Email him atcrunnells@gannett.com or connect to Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter (@charlesrunnells) and Instagram (@crunells1). You can also call 239-335-0368.
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