Animals in Dallas Zoo had previously escaped from their cages, and the most famous of these escapes occurred in 2004, when the gorilla “Jabari” jumped high over the fence, setting off a 40-minute frenzy, during which three people were injured.
A female spotted cheetah enjoyed a short-lived moment of freedom after she fled her habitat at the Dallas Zoo and was left on the loose for more than six hours, prompting officials to close the zoo and declare a “state of emergency.”
The missing female cheetah, Nova, aged three to four, was reported at around 10am local time, prompting the declaration of an “emergency”, notifying all staff of the loss of a non-dangerous animal.
The zoo said the big cat was eventually found near its fenced home, after police officers conducted searches, during which they used marches with infrared inspection capabilities to search for spots hidden among the trees.
“We are pleased to announce that we located a female spotted cheetah Nova at the zoo this afternoon and she was very close to her home, and the teams were able to secure her,” the zoo said in a statement posted on social media.
Harrison Edel, Vice President of the Zoo for Animal Care and Conservation, said in a press conference earlier: “It does not pose a danger to humans.” He added that it is not known exactly when the female leopard escaped, but it appears that she escaped through a cut in the fence. that surrounds the cage.
Spotted leopards, so called because of their cloud-like fur forms, inhabit dense forests in the foothills of the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and southern China, and their numbers are dwindling in the wild.
Animals in Dallas Park had previously escaped from their cages, and the most famous of these escapes occurred in 2004, when the gorilla “Jabari” jumped high over the fence, setting off a 40-minute frenzy, during which three people were wounded, before the police shot him dead. on him. Jabari weighed 154 kilograms.
