The escaped clouded leopard female Nova caused a stir for several hours at the Dallas Zoo in the US state of Texas.
“If you happen to see a cat that is larger than a domestic cat and smaller than a lynx, please let us know,” Texas Zoo’s Harrison Edell said on Friday. “We’ll take any lead we can get.”
In the meantime, the zoo staff spends “a lot of time with binoculars” to look out for the big cat, Edell explained. The clouded leopard Nova poses “no danger” to human life, as it weighs just ten kilograms. Nevertheless, Edell warned bystanders against trying to catch the big cat yourself. After all, Nova has claws and sharp teeth and is “still a wild animal”.
Four-year-old Nova, who lives with her sister Luna at the Dallas Zoo, escaped through a hole in their enclosure fence. The zoo was closed because of the search operation. The police participated in the “manhunt” with drones with infrared cameras.
After a few hours, Nova was found and recaptured. As the zoo had guessed, she hadn’t strayed far from her enclosure. The animal apparently survived its adventure unscathed.
In the wild, clouded leopards are found in the Himalayas and certain areas of southeastern China.
(SDA)