JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A black bear was fatally shot Wednesday after escaping from his exhibit at a northeastern Florida zoo and “engaging” with a zookeeper, authorities said.
According to a Facebook post from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, the North American bear escaped his exhibit at about 5 p.m. EST. He was able to get behind the exhibit after breaking out of his enclosure.
The 5-year-old bear, named Johnny, had been at the zoo since 2017, WJAX-TV reported. The facility was closed and there were very few visitors still in the park, according to the television station.
The bear made contact with a zookeeper, and emergency protocols were initiated with the zoo’s “lethal weapons team” arriving at the scene, zoo officials said.
Team members fatally shot the bear.
“In these types of situations, whether it’s at the zoo or in the wild, it’s standard operating procedure when it comes to protecting the safety of humans,” Kelly Rouillard, director of marketing at the zoo, told WJAX. “With a bear that size, we are protecting the human’s life and a tranquilizer wouldn’t have been effective.”
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department told the television station that the zookeeper did not have life-threatening injuries but was taken to an area hospital for further evaluation.
The zoo, in its Facebook post, noted that the facility’s highest priority “is always the safety of human lives.”
Zoo officials said an investigation will be conducted.
“We do not take this lightly,” they said.
“It is profoundly painful when we have a loss of an animal, especially under circumstances such as this,” the zoo said in a statement.
“It’s always heartbreaking and something we don’t like to do,” Rouillard told WJAX. “There’s cases where this happens and we are highly trained, our staff is highly trained to handle these situations.”