NEW ORLEANS -- Valerio, the Audubon Zoo’s 3-year-old jaguar, made his escape after he gnawed through a stainless steel barrier on the roof of his enclosure and squeezed out of what officials said was a remarkably small hole for a cat his size to slip through.
Kyle Burks, the zoo’s vice president and general manager, on Tuesday provided those details as part of the most vivid description of Valerio’s escape and the efforts to sedate him after he was found prowling the grounds just after sunrise Saturday, leaving nine animals dead.
His escape and deadly rampage have prompted the zoo to keep the jaguar exhibit closed as staffers work to install stronger material on its roof to prevent any future escapes.
“I’m still processing that the animal was able to bite through this woven stainless steel cable,” Burks said during a press conference.
EMERGENCY PLAN ACTIVATED
There are no cameras at the jaguar exhibit, so Burks said staff will likely never know how long Valerio was out of his enclosure before a staffer spotted him loose about 7:20 a.m. Saturday after he “heard animals in distress.”
Within two minutes, staffers began to activate the zoo’s emergency protocols. That included a veterinarian mixing a non-lethal cocktail of drugs to knock out Valerio.
By 7:25 a.m., staffers formed a perimeter around Valerio. The vet fired off the first dart 10 minutes later. The drugs, though, failed to sedate the jaguar as quickly as zoo staff hoped.
“Because it was going slower than we intended, we made the decision to add another immobilizing dart” Burks said.
By 7:43 a.m., Valerio lay on the ground, at which point staffers walked up and “prodded” him with a stick. By 8:04 a.m. he was locked inside the jaguar facility once again.
IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED
Burks said that once Valerio was locked up, staff began a top-to-bottom inspection of the jaguar habitat, which also houses a female jaguar that did not escape.
That’s when they found the roughly 8-by-10-inch hole at the top of a 16-foot-tall concrete column in the middle of the exhibit that they believe Valerio squeezed through to briefly gain his freedom.
Burks described the hole as “incredibly small.”
“And I’m still processing that the animal was able to bite through this woven stainless steel cable,” he added.
Architects and engineers who specialize in zoo exhibits designed the jaguar habitat. The roof, which was updated about 10 years ago, follows industry standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Burks said. It also is inspected on a regular basis.
“Never in the past had we found any indication there was damage to that (the roof),” Burks said.
The new roof will be made of stronger material with smaller openings. But Burks could not immediately say what material that will be.
RESPONSE PRAISED
Ron Forman, president of the Audubon Nature Institute, said it is unlikely that any animals that might break free from their habitats could escape into the neighborhood surrounding the zoo.
He said that there is a secondary fence that rings the zoo that meets AZA standards.
That fence also will prevent most animals from leaving the grounds. Forman admitted, though, that if Valerio was stressed enough, the 5-foot-long, 160-pound cat could possibly have found a way through it.
"Is it conceivable? Yes," Burks acknowledged. "Did we do everything to prevent that? Yes. Were we successful? Yes."
Forman said that underscores the importance of how quickly zoo staff responded to the situation.
“We know he was out long enough to do the things he did.” Burks said in regard to the mauling of the five alpacas, three foxes and one emu. “For us, any time he was out was too long, and that’s why we’re focused on making sure it will never happen again.”
Danny Monteverde can be reached at danny@wwltv.com. Paul Murphy can be reached at pmurphy@wwltv.com.