Thousands of people spent Labor Day at the Indianapolis Zoo, but they didn't see one set of animals. The cheetah exhibit remained closed Monday as zookeepers tried to determine how one of them got out the enclosure before they put them back on display.
The naturalist on duty took lots of questions as she stood near the empty exhibit telling curious zoo-goers "they're all inside until we can do a full review of the exhibit...everything went on plan...yep, our keepers do run drills."
No wonder all the interest, given Pounce's escape made national news. It happened Sunday morning shortly after the zoo had opened. Spokesperson Judy Palermo said a staff member walking by saw Pounce lying in a grassy area beyond his primary enclosure.
The four-year-old cheetah had somehow climbed up a wall and over the electric wire meant to keep the animals from the outer fence. The zoo declared a "Code red," closing the zoo and sending patrons already on the grounds into the dolphin pavilion, gift shop and other "safe buildings."
Palermo said zookeepers found Pounce lying in the grassy area very calm and say he did not run away. They were able to dart him and sedate him and he jumped back down to the exhibit and was unconscious within minutes.
Pounce and his brother Zephyr came to the Indianapolis Zoo in July from San Diego. It was they're first week in the exhibit.
Palermo said they're still not sure how Pounce wound up outside his primary enclosure.
"They don't do a lot of climbing like a tiger, so that is a surprise to us," she said. "We've had this exhibit opened five years and never had a cheetah try to do that, so we need to assess the exhibit and see if that area needs to be changed."
Unlike the lions and some of the other exhibits, there's no camera overlooking the cheetah's exhibit.
"Cheetahs are kind of the least aggressive of the big cats," Palermo said. "They would rather flee than fight."
In fact, keepers here have fed the cheetahs by hand. "Other zoos in country that have hand-raised cheetahs, using them for outreach and education programs," Palermo said. "They can be around humans, but that's because if you hand-raise a cheetah, they trust you."
Still, she stressed they're wild animals, and said the zoo took Sunday's situation "very seriously."
Palermo said the safety measures zoo employees practice twice monthly worked. No one was ever in danger and the zoo was quickly back to normal.
She said the cheetahs will remain in their behind-the-scenes area until they discover how Pounce got out and take the necessary steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.
In April 2014, two orangutans got out of their primary enclosure area, but remained inside the building.
The zoo was in the news last month when its Skyline ride malfunctioned for the second time in two months. It also had a malfunction last October.
