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Vandals cut some chain-link fencing overnight to free the two animals from their habitat. Both were found inside the zoo’s outside fence, tranquilized and put back in their cages.
Acting Police Chief Tony Dick said there was no indication the crime was in response to the Tuesday incident at the San Francisco Zoo in which a tiger escaped from its enclosure, killed one person and critically injured two others before being shot to death.
Mayor Kevin Crawford and police said they were seeking whoever cut the fence to the big cats’ habitat.
“These animals can’t survive in the wild,” Crawford said. “They are raised for the purpose of education. People who think they are releasing these animals as a service to the animals are just wrong.”
The cougars have been domesticated and expect their food to be brought to them, Crawford said.
But, he added, they still have killer instincts and could have threatened area residents had they escaped the zoo’s perimeter fence.
A zookeeper noticed cougar footprints in the snow and discovered the animals’ escape between 7 and 8 a.m., Crawford said. The zookeeper immediately locked the front gates and called authorities.
Dick said about 20 searchers, including police, parks workers and employees of a local veterinary office, worked diligently to locate the animals in the 101-acre park, while trying not to startle the cougars.
“Animals that are scared are unpredictable,” Dick said. “We did not want to harm these animals in any way.”
With the animals recaptured, Crawford said police were focusing on the search for the vandals.
