Her Dedication to Lemurs Almost Delayed Her Wedding

Meredith Hinton stands next to a red-ruffed lemur at the Lemur Conservation Foundation.

Photo Credit: Lemur Conservation Foundation

In October 2024, Hurricane Milton was the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico. Although it dropped from a Category 5 to a Category 3 storm when it made landfall in Florida, its impact was catastrophic: it spawned a deadly tornado outbreak, caused widespread flooding and mass evacuations, killed more than 40 people, and left an estimated $34.3 billion in damage.

While the storm was still in the Gulf, Meredith Hinton, Curator at the Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) in Myakka City, Florida, had to shift her focus from preparing for her wedding to planning for a possible direct hit by a major hurricane. “I was so much more focused on the needs here than my wedding.” She feared LCF would get slammed as hard as they had two years before. But this time she was better prepared.

Hurricane Ian Motivated Meredith To Up Her Game

Meredith was a lead keeper at LCF when Hurricane Ian devastated Florida in 2022, leaving 152 people dead and almost $113 billion in damage. After Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm, it ravaged Florida zoological facilities. Hurricane-strength winds and tornadoes the storm spawned left sites littered with downed trees and damaged electrical infrastructure. Personnel at devastated facilities were faced with the overwhelming task of responding to the immediate needs of the animals in their care while absorbing the wreckage of their homes and communities. 

Although Meredith had previously prepared for hurricanes, she had never been through one that hit so directly. “It was very emotional. Seeing the amount of damage to the fence lines and this facility that I love so much was heart-wrenching and exhausting. I wanted to be doing my best for the lemurs because they had no idea what was going on.” 

LCF maintains forest habitats for the lemurs in their care. Hurricane Ian mowed down dozens of the habitats’ trees, including dozens that fell on the fence lines.

The staff at LCF did not know about ZDR3 until a friend in the industry suggested they join the ZDR3 Network* and request assistance. 

Meredith teared up when ZDR3 Network responders arrived. “I was just taken aback by how helpful they were and how sensitive they were to our situation.” That experience taught her a lot about how to manage a team under worst-case conditions, and it made her want to learn more about how to plan, prepare, and respond to disasters. The LCF staff reviewed their Contingency Plan and realized they needed to update their evacuation protocol—and to add contacting ZDR3 to their plan. 

In 2023, Meredith attended a ZDR3 Regional Response Readiness workshop hosted by Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, where she upped her disaster response knowledge base and connected with people from other facilities in the region. “That was really a turning point for me to start figuring out more of a solidified evacuation protocol.”

Bad Enough to Ask for Help?

Meredith and her dog, Toph, rode out the storm in the LCF office.

Photo Credit: Meredith Hinton

Hurricane Milton was an especially menacing storm while it rapidly intensified in the Gulf, so Meredith anticipated the level of damage LCF experienced during Ian. She and her team put away anything that could go airborne, removed shade cloth from enclosures, and stored water in every building in case they lost power to their wells. Meredith reached out to the ZDR3 team before Milton made landfall, and they confirmed they had teams on standby should help be needed.

Fortunately, Milton lost steam when it made landfall. After it passed LCF, Meredith discovered the storm’s violent winds crushed their enrichment shed. But she was relieved that there were fewer downed trees than she expected. One landed on an outdoor enclosure, four damaged fence lines, and others in the forest habitats were snapped in half. Meredith felt the conditions in the forest were too dangerous for the lemurs, but realized any tree company they tried to hire would prioritize people’s homes. She wondered if the damage was “bad enough” to call ZDR3 for assistance, then decided “It’s not the end of the world to just ask for help.”

ZDR3 Executive Director Julia Wilder and two other staff members were already working in Florida and quickly headed to LCF. ZDR3 Network Disaster Responders from Fort Worth Zoo, Palm Beach Zoo, and Myakka Elephant Ranch soon arrived with heavy equipment and chain saws to cut and move the trees. Meredith said it would have taken her small staff months to do the work the responders finished in a few days.

Responders worked hard to clear fallen trees from the habitats at the Lemur Conservation Foundation.

Meredith postponed leaving for her out-of-state wedding to stay with her staff while response teams were working at LCF. “I didn’t want them to worry about anything other than their normal day-to-day stuff.” She learned the value of considering everyone’s mental health when she worked with the first ZDR3 Network responders after Ian. Julia role-modeled the kinds of questions Meredith learned to ask her staff—and not just after disasters. “Zookeeping in general can be very taxing, so just being able to take a minute and be like, ‘Everybody, breathe. How are you doing? Do you need anything? Do you need to sit down for five minutes?’” 

LCF Executive Director Deborah Millman is very proud of Meredith and her team. “She assumed this critical leadership role at a young age. She has immersed herself in the industry, networking nationally and internationally and soaking up knowledge. Under her leadership, LCF’s small team of keepers accomplishes goals typically not achieved by animal welfare organizations of its size.”

Meredith said her bridesmaids told her she was the calmest bride they’d ever seen. “I told them that after everything I just went through, a wedding is nothing. I have my friends and my family around me, and I’m marrying the love of my life. I’m good.”

Meredith Hinton and Tom Hamilton on their wedding day. Tom was a keeper at another facility when they married. They both now work and live at LCF. 

Photo: Courtesy of Meredith Hinton

*Some ZDR3 Network member facilities join immediately before, during, or after a disaster. Here’s how to join ZDR3.

Red-ruffed lemur photo on cover: Lemur Conservation Foundation