'We are devastated': Fire kills nearly all the animals at a Florida wildlife center

An early morning fire claimed the lives of almost all the animals at a beloved Florida Gulf Coast wildlife center, officials said.

The fire at the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center near St. Petersburg broke out at about 3 a.m., the Madeira Beach Fire Department said in a statement. It was under control within about 35 minutes but firefighters noted "rapidly deteriorating conditions." Its cause is under investigation.

"Unfortunately, many animals lost their lives to include various reptiles and mammals," the statement said.

The center said in a Facebook post Thursday morning: "We suffered from a tragic fire last night. Nearly all of the animals are gone. We are devastated."

The center housed more than 250 animals, according to its website, including " lizards, small mammals, amphibians, turtles and tortoises, fresh and saltwater marine life, and of course … alligators." The animals came from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wildlife rescues and individual owners who couldn't care for their pets, the website said.

Owner Sonny Flynn told local station WTSP all the mammals were killed and many of the reptiles were injured. USA TODAY has reached out to Flynn. Flynn's websites and nonprofit records list her as the owner of a number of animal rescue-focused organizations in Florida.

"They didn't deserve this, this is my whole life," Flynn told WTSP. Flynn said the animals all had names and personalities, and she would talk to them "like Dr. Dolittle."

The Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center sees visitors on school field trips and family trips, and said on its website it wanted to educate people about the animals it housed.

"That place was incredible," said Amber Stortz, a preschool teacher from Alexandria, Kentucky, whose family visited the center every year on a trip to Madeira Beach. "It didn't really feel like you were at a zoo or something like that, it felt like a small, family-owned place."

Stortz told USA TODAY on Thursday morning her two children were upset to learn about the fire, and enjoyed seeing some of the same animals year after year. One snake, named Jasper, was a particular favorite of Stortz's son, she said. Her son wants to be a wildlife biologist, in part because of the trips to the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center.

"We've got pictures of my son with the same snake for two or three years in a row, and just how it got bigger each year along with him," she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fire at Florida alligator and wildlife center kills nearly all animals