The zoo tweeted that the cat named Nova, who weighs about 9-11 kilograms, did not appear injured and was found near her original habitat. The search had closed Texas’ largest zoo to visitors while staff and police combed the 40-hectare grounds.
The zoo announced that Nova had been found just moments after a news conference in which police said a criminal investigation had been opened.
Police and zoo officials said they have reviewed surveillance footage but would not say what it showed or whether there were potential suspects.
тАЬIt is our belief that this was an intentional act,тАЭ Dallas Police Sergeant Warren Mitchell said.
Mitchell said Dallas police at first dispatched SWAT officers to the zoo, not understanding the size of a clouded leopard. Police drones helped search the zoo grounds, including trees.
Harrison Edell, executive vice president of animal care and conservation at the Dallas Zoo, said clouded leopards like to climb.
The zoo tweeted earlier in the day that the missing cat was a тАЬserious situation”, but officials said the animal posed no danger.
Sumatran tiger cubs revealed by zoo
Another clouded leopard at the zoo, Nova’s sister, did not leave its habitat.
Animals have escaped enclosures from the Dallas Zoo before. Most notably was in 2004, when a 154-kilogram gorilla named Jabari jumped over a wall and went on a 40-minute rampage that injured three people before police shot and killed the animal.
