"Tragic loss" at the Audubon Zoo after the jaguar broke loose, kills six other animals in the zoo; zoo to reopen Sunday | New



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A 3-year-old jaguar named Valerio escaped from the roof of his bullpen at the Audubon Zoo early Saturday morning in New Orleans and made his way through other exhibits. zoo, killing six animals and wounding three.

An emu named Elmo, a red fox named Maggie Mae and four alpacas named Noel, Micia, Alexandria and Lil Melody are dead.

"He's a young jaguar who did what jaguars do," said Joel Hamilton, the zoo's general curator.

The zoo was closed Saturday to allow employees to investigate the incident and cry dead animals, which are "their family," said Ron Forman, chief of Audubon Nature Institute, the private non-profit that manages the zoo. [ News Facts : The Habitat Roof Seemed to be "Compromised," says Zoo.]

The zoo offered mourning advice to its staff, officials said at the time. a press conference on Saturday afternoon. the audience for the "thousands" of messages of support that they had received at that time.

The jaguar's habitat, called Jaguar Jungle, will remain closed Sunday, although the rest of the zoo will be open.

The Jaguar Jungle opened its doors in 1998 on a Mayan theme, with altars, temples and mists of rainforest. The Jaguar habitat was part of this original exhibit. An Enlargement of 3.23 Million $ opened earlier this year, with a bat house and the herd park of alpacas that wandered in t

The Jaguar Jungle concept was inspired by the vision of the donor who helped fund the # 39, exhibition, archaeologist and anthropologist Doris Zemurray Stone, who sat on the board of Audubon, as well as his daughter, Stephanie Stone Feoli, and his son -right, Ludovico Feoli

A jaguar escaped Shine a light in a typically dark area of ​​the Audubon Zoo: the Jaguar Jungle.

During Valerio's escape, the other zoo's jaguar, a 21-year-old female named Ix Chel, remained safe in her separate interior habitat.

The two cats are at opposite ends of the jaguar's life 15 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Valerio is still a parent: Born in San Diego in March 2015, he has been in Audubon since October

. On Saturday, he demonstrated the power of the jaws and the agility of the jaguars. In no time, he devastated the zoo's alpacas, which resembles mini-llamas. A single alpaca, a female named Daisy, survives

The zoo also only had a small number of birds unable to fly called emus, perhaps as few as three, so Saturday's events left this hard-hit population too.

seems like the jaguar did not kill the creatures of hunger. "There was no consumption," Hamilton said.

The zoo's medical staff spent the day treating Daisy and two other injured animals, the red fox named Copper and Rusty. "They're getting care 24/7, and we hope they'll recover quickly," said Kyle Burks, vice president and general manager of the zoo.


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  Audubon Zoo Jaguar Kills

A zoo employee discovered Valerio's escape around 7:20 am on Saturday and followed security protocols, locking himself into a building and launching an alert. The teams found Valerio, shot him with a tranquilizer dart and brought him back to his pen about an hour after discovering his escape.

The initial survey of the zoo showed that Valerio went through the roof of his habitat. Officials from the zoo said, noting that no animals would be housed in this enclosure until the investigation and repairs were completed.

A typical Saturday with good weather, several thousand visitors move through the zoo. The zoo officials pointed out that if this event had occurred during the visiting hours, the protocols would have ensured their safety.

"We perform exercises every year and have protocols for this specific situation to ensure that" zoo officials said in a release.

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