A Jacksonville Zookeeper, Floridais recovering in a hospital from the injuries caused by an American black bear that managed to escape from its confinement and ended up being sacrificed, local media reported Thursday.
Five-year-old Johnny Bear, who had been at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens since 2017, was shot dead by that institution’s deadly weapons specialists, local News 4 JAX channel reported.
The circumstances under which the bear escaped Wednesday afternoon are unknown, but it is known that it was not in an area in public view. It was also not known exactly what happened between the bear and the keeper, but the incident is being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, as well as by the zoo.
According to Kelly Rouillard, director of the zoo, the bear “engaged” with the caretaker and he made an emergency call for specialists to attend this kind of situation.
“Emergency protocols were applied. They shot the bear and it died,” said Rouillard, who stressed that the specialists considered that in this case the use of tranquilizers would not have been worth it because a human life was at risk.
Rouillard said the caretaker, whose name has not been released, ended up at the hospital for evaluation. “Our highest priority is always the safety of human lives; therefore, the bear was shot and killed,” the zoo said in a statement.
“We will carry out an ongoing investigation in the coming days and weeks. We do not take it lightly. It is deeply painful when we have the loss of an animal, especially in circumstances like this,” the text adds.
According to outforia, a digital nature and adventure outlet that in 2021 published a report on human deaths from wild animals in the United States, the brown bear is the most dangerous, with 70 deaths since 1970.
They are followed by sharks (57 deaths), snakes in general (57), black bears (54), alligators (33), pumas (16), polar bears (10) and wolves (2), he points out. a report of efe.
