Animals are unfazed but zoo stays closed

The day after Los Angeles Zoo animals were hustled to their off-exhibit enclosures with a fire bearing down not far away in Griffith Park, they were returned to their outdoor exhibits.

With a veil of smoke visible in the hills, zoo staffers said Wednesday that animals were calm and seemingly unbothered by the faint smell of smoke wafting on the breeze.

“Even along the edges” of the zoo, principal keeper Jeff Briscoe said, “the animals seem oblivious.” Briscoe, who stayed at the zoo until 3 a.m. Wednesday, checked on the zoo’s two high-profile elephants through the night. “They’re fine. They’re not even aware of it,” he said.

There was one thing unusual at the zoo, however: It was closed to the public, as were all access roads. So with the zoo devoid of noisy patrons and screaming children, animals luxuriated in the quiet.

A chimpanzee toting an onion strolled across its exhibit, past a rushing waterfall that drowned out the thud-thud-thud of a helicopter overhead. A bachelor herd of Nubian ibexes monitored the zoo scene from a high rock ledge while two gerenuks in another exhibit propped their slender legs up on a tree to browse.

Billy, the zoo’s bull elephant, flipped a trunkful of dirt over his head onto his back to cool himself.

Normal life rhythm at the zoo includes copious amounts of sleeping, and that was in evidence Wednesday. A koala and her joey napped in the shade. Hippos snoozed. A female lion sprawled on her back, paws up, housecat style.

“Our veterinary staff and curators are monitoring the animals but there seem to be no ill effects from the smoke,” said Jason Jacobs, director of marketing and public relations for the zoo.

Not all animals were secluded in off-exhibit enclosures Tuesday afternoon as a precaution against encroaching fire. “Some animals -- it’s more stressful to lock them in,” Briscoe said. Others will go easily into quarters at the last minute. “The elephants had access in and out of their barns,” he said.

The zoo has been staffed by keepers almost around the clock since the fire broke out, and Director John Lewis spent Wednesday morning shuttling between the zoo and the fire command center near the Greek Theatre.

Saying the zoo would not reopen today, officials suggest checking the website for updates on the closure: www.lazoo.org.

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carla.hall@latimes.com