Great Ape Trust staff and apes prepared for flooding

Des Moines, Iowa – June 30, 2010 – The bonobos call it “big water” and this time they’re ready for it.  For the second time in two years, the campus of Great Ape Trust will see floodwaters.  Levels this week, however, aren’t expected to reach those of the devastating record Floods of 2008 that resulted in $1.25 million in damage to the scientific research center in southeast Des Moines.

“We have been in flood mode for four months so we are very prepared for high water on our campus,” said William M. Fields, director of scientific research at Great Ape Trust. “Neither apes or humans will come in contact with floodwater.  We have ample food reserves, fresh drinking water and barriers in our laboratories.”

Fields added that he conducted a practice drill two months ago and the exercise went extremely well.  Floodwaters are expected to crest near the end of this week but will remain 4-5 feet lower than the crest in June 2008.

Two years ago, high water turned the 230-acre campus into a lake.  Three feet of water entered the bonobo and orangutan buildings and for two weeks, boats shuttled scientists, staff, supplies and food for the ape residents.

Though the bonobo and orangutan laboratories were built one foot above Floods of 1993 levels, the floodwaters in 2008 on and near the Great Ape Trust campus rose significantly higher than that. The four-lane U.S. Highway 65/69 beltway that is downstream from Great Ape Trust was built after the Floods of ’93 and has compounded flooding in that area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Iowa Department of Transportation are working to address that issue.