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Mesh opening allowed leopard to escape Utah zoo enclosure

Endangered animal sedated; no one harmed

By HALLIE GOLDEN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press
Published: June 8, 2016, 10:11pm

SALT LAKE CITY — A rare leopard at a Salt Lake City zoo escaped to a nearby high beam by squeezing through a small opening in the steel grade mesh on top of her enclosure, officials said.

Hogle Zoo spokeswoman Erica Hansen said Wednesday that a security team investigating the escape found a trail of leopard hair around the 6-by-6 inch opening built in the enclosure’s mesh.

“It’s quite a feat,” she said. “A lot of people with cats at home know they can be escape artists, but wow.”

Shortly after the Hogle Zoo opened Tuesday, a visitor spotted the 4-year-old female sleeping on a wooden support beam right above where people would have clustered to watch her, Hansen said.

Hansen said that the tranquilizer has worn off and the Amur leopard is awake and in good health.

The zoo plans to move the leopard to a different enclosure that has smaller openings in its mesh.

The animal left visible claw marks on the wooden perch as she hung on briefly before the dart took full effect, but once sedated she was moved to a back room.

Visitors said the situation played out calmly, and many returned to the zoo when it re-opened after about an hour. Officials said they were lucky it happened early and that she was asleep when found.

The leopard named Zeya is a petite, 60 pound animal and one of the smallest leopards the zoo’s history. She was brought in from England to mate with the zoo’s Amur leopard, Hansen said.

Amur leopards are considered critically endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Only 60 remain left in the wild.

The federal agency said it plans to look into whether the zoo violated any part of the Animal Welfare Act.

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