Clouded leopard escapes Dallas Zoo: ‘Someone cut the net’

A clouded leopard escaped from the Dallas Zoo. As quickly because the alarm sounded, looking started within the metropolis: cops geared up with drones helped zoo employees discover the escaped specimen. “When you see a cat bigger than a home cat and smaller than a lynx, please tell us,” mentioned Harrison Edell, vp of the Texas Zoo. Edell harassed that the clouded leopard’s title, Nova, “doesn’t pose a hazard to people”: “It seemingly climbs timber when frightened, avoids us, hunts squirrels and birds, and hopes to go unnoticed.”

Then they added a bit of recommendation: “If anybody meets Nova, do not attempt to catch her,” he mentioned. “It nonetheless has full claws and tooth. It is not a home cat, it is a wild animal.” The zoo mentioned it found Nova disappeared Friday morning when employees checked the enclosure the four-year-old leopard shared along with his sister Luna and located a tear within the mesh.

Nova’s freedom did not final lengthy: The cat was recognized close to his lair on the zoo, which communicated his discovery. Nevertheless, the investigation into how he managed to flee is open: Dallas police are investigating the harm to the fence, describing it as “an intentional act. We consider this was an intentional act, so we’ve got launched a prison investigation,” Dallas mentioned. Police Sergeant Warren Mitchell at a press convention. “The fence from which he escaped was intentionally lower.”