APPLE VALLEY, Minn. – Minnesota Zoo officials are investigating how a Mexican wolf escaped from its enclosure, prompting zoo staff to fatally shoot the animal.
Zoo spokeswoman Kelly Lessard says the wolf got out of the Northern Trail exhibit and into a bison area at the zoo Wednesday in the Minneapolis suburb of Apple Valley.
She says the area was evacuated and the wolf was shot because it was considered a threat. No people were hurt and the wolf never left zoo grounds.
Zoo visitor Mary Woestehoff of Richfield says she saw the wolf running on a path, prompting her to scoop up her 18-month-old daughter. She says she used a nearby emergency phone to report the loose wolf.
The animal was a Mexican gray wolf, which is on the federal endangered species list.
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