It’s not every day that Allied Steel Buildings takes an order for a steel giraffe barn, particularly one to be built in northern Quebec.
"I was the one who took the order," says Randy Levy, account co-ordinator with Allied’s Florida office in Fort Lauderdale.
"It was certainly the first time our company was asked to provide a building that would serve as a winter home for giraffes."
Levy, who hails from Montreal, is fluidly bilingual and acts as Allied’s account specialist for the Quebec market.
The clients were Daniel Gagnon and Suzie Girard, owners of Le zoo de Falardeau, located in St-David de Falardeau more than 200 kilometres north of Quebec City near Chicoutimi.
The facility was opened more than a decade ago as a wildlife observation and rehabilitation centre, where distressed animals could be nursed back to health prior to release. The zoo was established in 2009 and, despite the remote location, attracts as many as 50,000 visitors each year. The operators received a license to host exotic animals in 2012 and currently boast a wide variety of domestic and exotic mammals, reptiles and birds. The newest attraction — baby tigers that can be petted by zoo patrons before they reach the age of about six months.
"They told me that the building would not only be used for giraffes, but also for other small animals that need to be kept inside during the winter," says Levy.
"They chose prefabricated steel simply because it was cheaper to buy and because it could be easily erected by local contractors."
Working with the client, Levy specified a prefabricated steel building 50 ft. by 95 ft. in area and a roof that crests at 21 ft. high. Bull giraffes can stand up to 18 ft. tall at the crest of the head, leaving a comfortable three feet of additional headroom for the tallest guest.
Gagnon notes that keeping giraffes is a lot like keeping cattle. They need to be kept warm in winter, eat hay and bed down like cows, lying on the ground while they sleep.
The building was manufactured at Allied’s facility in La Crosse, Va. and the components were delivered to St-David de Falardeau by flatbed truck in October 2014.
"In this case, we only needed to use one truck to deliver the entire building, which weighed in at 38,000 pounds," says Levy.
"Local contractor Dave Gagnon assembled the building. He’s worked with us before and is familiar with the assembly process. This type of building system doesn’t require any welding — everything bolts together. The only challenge to building the structure was preparing the foundation, because the soil was quickly frozen. Despite the fact that there were several feet of snow on the ground at one point, the building was finished with time to spare by the end of January."
The first giraffe is expected to arrive at the zoo by August and the next one by November.
"Daniel told me that once the giraffes are comfortable in their new home, they may be joined by zebras and even an elephant," says Levy.
"He’s very passionate about the wildlife facility and he loves what he does. It was very easy for us to help him with this project because he knows exactly what he wants and needs."
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