Official: Escaped Jaguar Bit Through Steel-Cable Barrier
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A jaguar that escaped its enclosure and killed nine other animals at a New Orleans zoo apparently was able to bite through a steel-cable barrier that forms the roof of its habitat. That's the word from an official at the Audubon Zoo.
Managing Director Kyle Burks told reporters Tuesday that the jaguar named Valerio apparently slipped through the resulting small gap in the cables.
Three foxes, five alpacas and an emu died as a result of attacks by the 3-year-old jaguar.
No people were hurt during the escape. The animal was tranquilized and was safely removed less than an hour after an employee discovered it was out early Saturday, before the zoo's opening time.
But Burks says officials don't know how long it roamed free before the escape was discovered.
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