A week after a clouded leopard escaped via a “suspicious opening,” the Dallas Zoo notified authorities of a “unusual” death of an endangered vulture in its Wilds of Africa habitat over the weekend.
“The animal care team is heartbroken over this tragic loss,” the Dallas Zoo tweeted on Sunday, adding that the “circumstances of the death are unusual” and it “does not appear to be the result of natural causes.”
We informed the Dallas Police Department about the recent incidents at the zoo.
A week prior to the vulture’s demise, Nova, a clouded leopard, escaped through a gap in her enclosure. The large cat was located unharmed and still on zoo grounds after a lengthy search that lasted many hours.
At the time, officials stated that the opening of Nova’s show was truncated on purpose.
During the investigation after Nova’s escape, another entrance that appeared to have been cut on purpose was discovered in the langur monkey enclosure. The police filed a criminal mischief report despite the fact that no monkeys had escaped their habitat.
This past weekend, our employees discovered that one of the rare vultures residing in our Wilds of Africa habitats had passed away. The animal care staff is devastated by this tragic loss. Please keep them in your thoughts as they deal with the recent events. pic.twitter.com/0fqJc8Uk2Y
— Dallas Zoo (@DallasZoo) January 22, 2023
The Dallas Zoo has added more security cameras to the grounds and enhanced nighttime security patrols.
The Dallas Zoo stated, “We will continue to implement and expand our safety and security measures to whatever level is necessary to protect our animals and staff.”
»Dallas Zoo requests police investigation after ‘strange’ vulture death«