According to an official at the Jacksonville Zoo, around 5:10 p.m. a bear escaped his exhibit behind the scenes and made contact with a zoo keeper.
An emergency call went out immediately and the lethal weapons team arrived in seconds. Emergency protocols were put into place and the bear was shot and killed.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said that the zoo keeper did not have life threatening injuries but was taken to a local hospital to be further evaluated. The bear’s name was Johnny, a 5-year-old Black American Bear. He has been at the zoo since 2017.
The zoo was already closed and there were very few visitors still left in the park. Kelly Rouillard, director of marketing at the Jacksonville Zoo said, “In these types of situations, whether its at the zoo or in the wild, it’s standard operating procedure when it comes to protecting the safety of humans. With a bear that size we are protecting the human’s life and a tranquilizer wouldn’t have been effective.”
There is a continuing investigation underway to see how the bear was able to get out of its exhibit.
Rouillard said, “It’s always heartbreaking and something we don’t like to do. There’s cases where this happens and we are highly trained, our staff is highly trained to handle these situations.”
(Action News Jax)