Leopard escapes its zoo enclosure and is on the ‘grounds and hiding’

The Dallas Zoo closed as its workers and police searched for the missing clouded leopard.

A zoo has been forced to close after a leopard escaped its enclosure and is believed to be prowling somewhere on the grounds.

The Dallas Zoo announced on Friday morning that it was shut for the day ‘due to a serious situation’.

‘We have an ongoing situation at the Zoo right now with a Code Blue – that is a non-dangerous animal that is out of its habitat,’ tweeted the zoo.

‘One of our clouded leopards was not in its habitat when the team arrived this morning and is unaccounted for at this time.’

The zoo stated that ‘given the nature of these animals, we believe the animal is still on grounds and hiding’.

It closed to the public as its teams worked to locate the leopard. The Dallas Police Department was also on site helping with the search efforts.

‘Our focus right now is on locating the animal,’ stated the zoo, adding that it would provide updates and more information as soon as it could.

Search efforts for the missing leopard, named Nova and weighing 20 to 25 pounds, were focused on the trees, according to Harrison Edell, the zoo’s executive vice president of animal care and conservation.

Nova does not pose a threat to humans, Edell said.

‘If anything, she’s real nervous and afraid of people,’ she told the Daily Mail.

Clouded leopards are found in the cloud forests of Southeast Asia and ‘are one of the most ancient cat species’, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. They are not able to roar or purr, but can growl and hiss.

At the National Zoo, clouded leopards are fed separately to avoid aggression between them. They are not known to have harmed humans.

It is not the first time that an animal has escaped an enclosure at the Dallas Zoo.

In 2004, a charging gorilla broke free from its enclosure and hurt three people, including a toddler, the Dallas Morning News reported. The gorilla bit the toddler on his head and chest and hurled him against a wall. It was killed by police.

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