Jaguar goes on animal killing spree after escaping New Orleans zoo enclosure

A jaguar escaped it’s enclosures at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans USA on Saturday morning and killed six other animals which included four alpacas, an emu and a fox in nearby enclosures.

Zoo officials are still investigating how Valerio, an adult male jaguar, got out of “Jaguar Jungle” at the Audubon Nature Institute, zoo officials said during a Saturday news conference.

Valerio escaped at about 7:20 a.m. Saturday, before the zoo was scheduled to open for the day. He was surrounded and sedated about an hour later by the zoo’s veterinary staff, according to a news release.

But the Jaguar left six animals died before the staff got to him. Valerio killed four alpacas, an emu and a fox.

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Three other animals were injured during Valerio’s hunt, Kyle Burks, the zoo’s managing director, said during the news conference. At least one of those was another of the zoo’s alpacas — Burks said all five of the alpacas in the zoo were attacked by the jungle cat.

Zoo staff called the killing spree a “tragic loss.” The zoo was closed Saturday, but officials said during the news conference that they expected to open Sunday.

“There was no consumption,” said Ron Forman, the zoo’s CEO. “It was probably more of a territorial opportunity. He’s just a normal jaguar as far as we’re concerned. He was just doing what jaguars do.”

Burks said that nothing like what happened Saturday had ever happened at the zoo. However, animals in captivity at Audubon have escaped from their enclosures before, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.