SEATTLE — The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle evacuated everyone Friday morning after receiving a bomb threat.
The threat came in around 11 a.m.
At first, it was not clear what was wrong.
“Everyone started freaking out and we kind of just thought an animal escaped,” said Makayla Ortiz, who visited the zoo with her family. “That’s what everyone was telling each other, literally. Animal escaped.”
“They were announcing that there was an emergency; all guests exit immediately,” said John Howe, who was evacuated from the zoo. “They did a great job getting everybody out. It was orderly, but there was definitely an urgency; everybody needed to leave.”
The zoo said that the Seattle Police Department searched the area and did not find a credible threat.
It will reopen to the public around 2 p.m.
“In the face of something so frightening and serious, seeing the response today has been incredible. Our staff remained calm and composed, and not only evacuated themselves, but helped out guests and summer camp kids evacuate seamlessly and with care. Our guests were responsive and measured, and helped us clear the zoo without any complications. Our young zoo campers were remarkably brave, and their families were so responsive. The police department arrived quickly and behaved with professionalism and skill. And our community reached out with messages of concern, support and kindness,” said Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO Alejandro Grajal. “It was a terrible situation met by the best of our community, and we’re grateful that it resolved safely and quickly.”
Over the past several weeks, multiple zoos and aquariums around the country have received similar threats that were later determined to be false swatting attempts.
“Regardless of the false nature of those threats, Woodland Park Zoo treated this threat as real and prioritized the safety of our staff, guests and animals,” the zoo shared.
Staff quickly evacuated about 3,500 guests and 200 camp kids until it was deemed safe to go back inside.
“My heart broke because of the amount of kids sitting there, waiting to get in but couldn’t just because someone is a jerk and wanting to play games,” Howe said.
The zoo said tickets sold Friday will be honored.
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