Mogo Zoo on the NSW South Coast is home to approximately 200 animals.

They have been locked up inside “as much as possible” and the sprinklers are keeping the wildlife park wet, a spokeswoman told news.com.au on Tuesday.

The zoo, spanning 81 acres of bushland and situated 10 kilometres south of Batemans Bay, is being threatened by the 31,000-hectare Clyde Mountain bushfire.

It is burning on the southern side of the Kings Highway and has crossed the Princes Highway near Mogo.

“A strong southerly change is expected across the fireground. This will push the fire in a northerly direction. While you may not be at threat now, the fire may reach your area,” the NSW Rural Fire Service emergency warning, which was still current at 3pm, states.

“Multiple fires are currently burning between Cooma, Bega and Batemans Bay and a number of these pose a serious threat to life.”

RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the fire “has spread down particularly through places like Cobargo and further south of Batemans Bay (to) places like Mogo and Broulee”.

“So there’s a range of different villages and communities right along the extensive nature of these various fire grounds that are being impacted already and there are also potential, serious potential with these southerly winds moving through, this aggressive change that’s coming through, increasing the volatility of the fire behaviour (and) spreading those fires now to the north,” he said.

“Most of our messages are about sheltering in place, and staying in place, because it is simply too late and too dangerous to leave.”

Those in Mogo who had planned to leave had been urged to do so on Tuesday morning.

The zoo was built by Sally Padey but Sydney’s Featherdale Wildlife Park took over in November.

“They will honour my legacy and do it proud,” Ms Padey told ABC at the time.

“How I am going to drive out the driveway that final time? I don’t know.”

A Featherdale Wildlife Park spokeswoman told news.com.au today that zookeeper and Director of Life Sciences, Chad Staples, was onsite at Mogo Zoo with 14 other staff.

“He’s the captain of the ship,” she said on Tuesday afternoon.

“They’re doing a pretty heroic job actually, making sure that the animals are being kept safe.

“Basically, they’ve been hosing down everything like someone would do protecting their own house in that area.”

Mr Staples later told the ABC the zoo was “more than threatened” today.

“A couple of hours ago it felt like Armageddon here,” he said shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.

“It was like we were fighting fires in the darkness.

“Right now, we feel that we’ve got a reprieve. Thankfully prayers were answered and the wind changed, then we were able to get on top of it. Now we’re just very much in a state of readiness.”

This morning, former owner Ms Padey told The Daily Telegraph she was heartbroken by the fire situation.

“I hope they are going to be OK,” she said.

“It’s the worst thing to happen in the history of Mogo Zoo.”

The zoo marked its 30th anniversary on Boxing Day last week.

Travel blogger Joanne Bond, who has been evacuated to Narooma, visited the zoo yesterday.

“I was one of the first cars in the car park and one of the first people in the zoo,” she said in a post on her JABA Travels Facebook page on December 30.

“It’s old but I was surprised with the amount of different and unique animals in the enclosures.”

She said it was a “high priority” stop during her trip along the coast.

Ms Bond saw white lions, gibbons, white rhinos, giraffes, meerkats, tigers, lemurs “and names I can’t remember but geez they were cute”.

Other businesses in the area were evacuated on Tuesday including The Mogo Lolly Shop which labelled it “that dreaded day”.