Cheetah escapes enclosure at Indianapolis Zoo

Visitors at the Indianapolis Zoo were instructed to seek shelter when it was reported that a cheetah escaped from the plains exhibit at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The cheetah never left zoo grounds.

About 9.40 local time on Sunday, a zoo staffer noticed that a four-year-old male cheetah named Pounce jumped into a fenced grassy area next to the primary exhibit.

According to an employee at the zoo, a “Code Red” was issued when a cheetah was on the loose, and visitors were instructed to seek safety and to stay inside buildings. “There’s been a Code Red, ‘” visitor Angela Knight told RTV6. “They told us there was a cheetah”. The lockdown immediately went into effect, and staff members moved guests to indoor “safe zones”.

“We have to see how did he get up, are there any other places we need to double-check, since we have these new cheetahs here and we will not put any of the cheetahs out until we fix whatever we need to fix”, said Palermo. She added that all the cheetahs were safe and are being kept in holding area away from the exhibit.

The zoo was on lockdown for about 30 minutes until Pounce was sedated and jumped back into his exhibit. No one can come in or out of the zoo.

Palermo said, “Our emergency response team went to the cheetah”. The cheetah was still lying down in the landscape area. After being darted, the cheetah ran back to its exhibit. Zoo officials are trying to piece together how the big cat staged its escape.