A clouded leopard who escaped from her habitat at the Dallas Zoo on Friday was back in her enclosure Saturday morning.
After searching throughout the day Friday with the assistance of the Dallas Police, the clouded leopard Nova was located in a heavily treed part of the zoo not far from her habitat and safely recovered.
Executive Vice President of Animal Care and Conservation Harrison Edell said Nova was reintroduced to her sister and back on habitat Saturday morning when the zoo reopened to visitors.
“Nova looks great. As we had predicted early on, she had not traveled far. She’s just really good at hiding," said Edell.
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Edell added that staff first caught a glimpse of Nova Friday after an angry squirrel drew their attention to where she was hiding.
He said the mesh was repaired but that long-term changes to keep something like this from happening again will be discussed next week.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Police Department is continuing its investigation into who would have damaged Nova's enclosure, saying it had been intentionally cut and not torn by the animal.
A second animal enclosure, the one that houses the langurs, a breed of monkey, was discovered over the weekend to have been also intentionally damaged and tampered with. None of the langurs left their enclosure.
