Cheyenne Mountain Zoo begins clean up, still closed to the public

It was a long day of clean up at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after a hail storm tore through the park on Monday night.

The zoo was closed through Tuesday and will be closed again on Wednesday while staff assesses the damage. President and CEO, Bob Chastain said four buildings were severely damaged in the storm, many of them covered in now shattered skylights.

“All of those skylights basically have been damaged to the point where we’re having to clear those out now so the animal exhibits underneath them can have animals in them safely,” Chastain says.

The damage is estimated to be more than $100,000. Chastain couldn’t give an exact figure but said the El Pomar Foundation was donating that amount in hopes of putting down the insurance deductible to get repairs started.

Two animals died as a result of the hail storm Monday night including a 12-year-old cape vulture named Motswari and a four-year-old Muscovy duck, Daisy. Most other animals suffered other injuries like welts and bruises from being hit by the storm.

Five people were also taken to the hospital after being by hail, but none seriously injured.

One of the largest messes to clean up was the parking lot filled with hundreds of cars that were destroyed by the hail. By Tuesday night, nearly 200 cars still sat in the visitor and employee lots waiting to be picked up by tow trucks.

Chastain said the parking lots were still zero percent cleaned up, meanwhile, the zoo’s path was 75 percent finished, but it could still be a few days before the park reopens.