A deer that jumped a wall at the National Zoo was fatally injured by two lions Sunday as dozens of startled spectators looked on.
Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson described the incident as highly unusual. It began about 2:50 p.m. as visitors lined the perimeter wall of an enclosure that contained two female lions, and it involved a deer that may have entered from Rock Creek Park.
"Everyone was cheering, 'Go, go, go' " to encourage the deer to reach safety, witness Josh Shpayher said. "Everyone was rooting for the deer."
As recounted by witnesses, the deer, over as much as 20 minutes, was in and out of a moat while the lions clutched, clawed or swatted it. A crowd of spectators grew. Some shrieked, cried out or took children away.
The incident began, said witness Rob Ephraim, when the deer "ran between people" at the railing of the low wall around the sunken enclosure.
"It was running and it leaped," he said. After a hoof apparently clipped the railing, the deer plunged into the green, leaf-strewn water of the moat at the bottom of the wall. One lion went in after the deer and "jumped on it," Ephraim said.
The deer escaped, "then [got] caught again," Ephraim said.
As the episode neared its end, one lion dragged the deer to a stairwell area. The deer, a female, broke free and bounded toward the moat, the lion in pursuit.
Zoo personnel sent visitors away and got the lions indoors. With the enclosure empty, the deer left the moat on its own. It was anesthetized and taken for evaluation by specialists.
They found it "pretty evident" that the deer "would not survive," and it was euthanized, Baker-Masson said.
Shpayher said he arrived in the middle of the incident, as the crowd was swelling to at least 100 people.
Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson described the incident as highly unusual. It began about 2:50 p.m. as visitors lined the perimeter wall of an enclosure that contained two female lions, and it involved a deer that may have entered from Rock Creek Park.
"Everyone was cheering, 'Go, go, go' " to encourage the deer to reach safety, witness Josh Shpayher said. "Everyone was rooting for the deer."
As recounted by witnesses, the deer, over as much as 20 minutes, was in and out of a moat while the lions clutched, clawed or swatted it. A crowd of spectators grew. Some shrieked, cried out or took children away.
The incident began, said witness Rob Ephraim, when the deer "ran between people" at the railing of the low wall around the sunken enclosure.
"It was running and it leaped," he said. After a hoof apparently clipped the railing, the deer plunged into the green, leaf-strewn water of the moat at the bottom of the wall. One lion went in after the deer and "jumped on it," Ephraim said.
The deer escaped, "then [got] caught again," Ephraim said.
As the episode neared its end, one lion dragged the deer to a stairwell area. The deer, a female, broke free and bounded toward the moat, the lion in pursuit.
Zoo personnel sent visitors away and got the lions indoors. With the enclosure empty, the deer left the moat on its own. It was anesthetized and taken for evaluation by specialists.
They found it "pretty evident" that the deer "would not survive," and it was euthanized, Baker-Masson said.
Shpayher said he arrived in the middle of the incident, as the crowd was swelling to at least 100 people.
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- LadybugLady
- added this
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And the lesson here is: Look before you leap!
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This is so sad... damm illegals had something to do with this!
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Screaming from the peanut gallery, blood from injured deer, and CAGED, incensed predators????...tragic consequences...
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they should have just let the lions get their eat on...
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- wolfinsheepsclothing
- 10 days ago
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*sighs* How many lions and they couldnt bring down 1 deer. Zoos are making animals lazy, make the hunters hunt
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Is it just me or did Richard Marlin Perkins just narrate this in my head as I read it.
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they should've let those lions have their prize catch, it's nature at work. it's already enough that these predators are in zoos anyway...
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Lunch time at the zoo will never be the same.
