9 animals dead after jaguar escape at New Orleans zoo
NEW ORLEANS — A little girl’s teary-eyed self-portrait, stuffed toys and a stick of taffy from a local street vendor, were among the items left at the entrance to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans on Monday — a makeshift memorial for nine animals killed by a jaguar that escaped its enclosure two days earlier.
Zoo officials announced the ninth animal death Monday: a wounded fox named Rusty.
No people were injured when Valerio, a 3-year-old male jaguar, escaped Saturday morning before the zoo’s scheduled opening. The big cat was captured within an hour. But the eventual animal death toll was three foxes, five alpacas and an emu.
Grief counselling was provided for zoo staff and officials encouraged the offering of notes at the zoo’s entrance.