Adult Tapir Startled by Maintenance Workers Briefly Escapes His Enclosure at Zoo Miami
Zoo Miami
A tapir at Zoo Miami briefly escaped his enclosure on Tuesday morning after he was startled by maintenance workers using a large riding lawn mower.
"The tapir just compromised [the enclosure]," Ron Magill, director of communications at Zoo Miami, told PEOPLE. "It climbed out the back side of the moat."
Magill added that there was "nothing nefarious about the animal getting out" of the habitat, which had never been breached in the past.
The tapir is a new arrival to the zoo, he added, and was likely not acclimated to the noise from the lawnmower.
In a post on Facebook, the Florida zoo said the adult male Malayan tapir jumped out of his habitat shortly before 8 a.m.
The animal was quickly contained in a secure area, Zoo Miami officials said, where the zoo's Animal Health team, in coordination with its Animal Science team, successfully tranquilized the animal and transported him to a secure holding space about an hour later.
RELATED: Flaco the Escaped Central Park Zoo Owl Remains At Large and Is Now Hunting for Food in N.Y.C.
The zoo said that the animal did not pose a threat to the general public while it was out of its enclosure.
Tapirs are mammals that are akin to "pigs with trunks," according to National Geographic. Related to horses and rhinoceroses, the Malayan tapir can weigh as much as 800 pounds.
While tapirs are generally considered to be gentle, the animal can be unpredictable in behavior and has been responsible for human attacks in the past.
In 2013, a Brazilian tapir seriously injured a 2-year-old girl and her mother at the Dublin Zoo.
The Zoo Miami tapir's escape comes on the heels of other alarming zoo incidents.
On Feb. 2, a rare Eurasian eagle owl named Flaco went missing from his exhibit at New York City's Central Park Zoo, according to zoo officials.
RELATED: Flaco the Owl Escapes New York City Zoo and Flies to Nearby Sanctuary
"The exhibit had been vandalized and the stainless steel mesh cut," the New York zoo said in a statement at the time. "Upon notification, a team was mobilized to search for the bird."
Since his escape, Flaco has taken up residence in Central Park, and zoo officials are no longer trying to catch him since he has successfully been able to hunt for food, despite initial concerns.
The Dallas Zoo has reported several missing animals since the start of 2023, beginning with a 4-year-old clouded leopard named Nova, who first went missing on Jan. 13 — and is now safely back at the zoo.
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An investigation by the Dallas Police Department on Jan. 16 showed that a cutting tool was used to make an opening in the fencing surrounding the animal's habitat.
Also in February, Houston Zoo officials found a four-inch gap in the mesh of a pelican habitat at its Children's Zoo, but all animals were found secure.
