Friday the 13th at the Dallas Zoo

It's hard for me to guess whether Harrison Edell is going to think of Friday the 13th as an exceptionally unlucky day in the future - or as a very lucky one.  "Unlucky" in the sense that, when the staff at the Dallas Zoo inspected their grounds this last Friday morning, they informed Edell - Vice President for Animal Care and Conservation - that one of their female clouded leopards, Nova, was missing.  The decision was immediately made to close the zoo while an intensive search was conducted, including the use of heat-sensitive drones to scan the treetops for the arboreal cat.  "Lucky" in the sense that, by the end of the day, Nova was found and safely recaptured (though I'm sure that the zoo will continue to be flooded with calls and messages from people claiming to have sighted the animal, because that's how these things work).

Clouded leopards are masters of stealth - I'm pretty sure a full-grown female could hide under a single fallen leaf, if she didn't have any better options, so being loose in the zoo grounds, potentially hopping the perimeter fence - I can't imagine the anxiety that the zoo staff must have being going through.  When I heard the news, I'll admit my first thought was, "Well, that's the last they're seeing of that animal."  It's worth noting that, for all the high-tech gadgetry brought in to search for Nova, she was actually found when zoo staff were alerted to her presence by an alarm-calling squirrel.

Photo Credit: Dallas Zoo, Via Associated Press

Nova is safe and healthy, reunited with her sister... but there isn't a 100% happy ending here yet.  

You see, Nova didn't quite get out on her volition - nor was her escape facilitated by human error.  Instead, it was human mischief.  It appears that a hole was deliberately cut in the mesh of her habitat - and not just her habitat.  Today, zoo staff reported that another hole was found cut in one of the monkey exhibits (though no escapes were reported).  This is a very troubling development.  Whether it was motivated by vandals pulling a prank, a mentally unwell person, or an animal rights activist trying to make a statement (one which could have very easily ended with a flattened clouded leopard being scraped off the nearby interstate) has yet to be determined.  A policer investigation is in progress. 

For now, I'll just take some comfort in the fact that all of the animals are safe and secure, and be heartened by all of the support that the community has shown the zoo during this terrifying day.  If black cats bring bad luck, maybe large, cloudy ones bring good luck?