"The animals that were outside kept very calm," one of the park's veterinarians, Christian Cabrera, 36, told AFP.Of the 2,000 animals at Safari Madrid, only the giraffes get stressed. "They are easily frightened and have had difficulty eating."At the height of the blaze, which scorched 77,000 hectares in the Madrid region and the neighbouring province of Avila, the fire blazed visibly along the ridges of the surrounding hills."At night, the sky was red," said Cabrera."We had to keep the animals safe one way or another -- that was our top priority. There was terrible anxiety."Fire 'terror'As the flames advanced, most of the 26 keepers on site had to be evacuated, leaving only four behind, said the vet, who had slept little for five days.
There are about 2,000 animals at the park © JAVIER SORIANO / AFP
"We were really frightened. We have become attached to some of these animals over many years. We are hugely responsible for them," he said."We went through hours of real terror when we saw the fire getting close and we did not know if we would be able to stop it."Unlike thousands of people in the fire zone, the big animals could not be evacuated."Moving an elephant requires months of preparation," Cabrera explained. Preparing to anaesthetise a pachyderm alone can take 10 hours.The largest animals, including the big cats, were confined to their shelters.Others, such as deer, camels and monkeys, remained outdoors in their vast enclosures."There is no grass there because they eat it, so the fire could not reach them," Cabrera said.Visitors returnA small number of visitors were once again driving through the park, which reopened on Wednesday morning after six days of closure during the fire.
