Louisville Zoo director recalls helping animals in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

Dan Maloney, director of the Louisville Zoo, reflects on his experience safeguarding animals during Hurricane Katrina while he was the general curator at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.

"It's still emotional because it was it was a tough time," Maloney said.

Maloney and 13 others stayed behind at the zoo, taking shelter in the reptile house to wait out the storm.

"Fourteen of us stayed behind and hunkered down in the reptile house, to wait out the storm," he said.

The Audubon Zoo, situated on high ground along the Mississippi River, served as a base for the National Guard in the weeks following the hurricane.

"We were kind of an island of ourselves along the that area, they called it the sliver on the river, those areas that were higher because of a delta river spil