Six sambar deer escaped from their enclosure in a Singapore zoo after a falling tree damaged the surrounding fence, the zoo said on Thursday.
Five of the six were recaptured while the remaining one was still wandering in the Night Safari park, the zoo said. The animals escaped on Wednesday, and the zoo said it didn’t know when the enclosure’s fence was damaged.
One of the recaptured deer managed to escape from the zoo itself, officials said. The New Paper reported the deer wandered into an orchid garden, which the owner was tending at the time.
“It was almost as tall as me and was sniffing around the orchids,” said Mark Kaufmann, a 47—year—old artist, according to the paper. “It’s not every day you have a deer walking through your garden.”
Mr. Kaufmann called the zoo and the deer was caught, the paper said.
Adult sambar deer are usually 4 to 6 feet tall (123 to 183 centimeters) and weigh 350 to 575 pounds (159 to 261 kilograms). They are found in India, China, Australia, throughout Southeast Asia and the U.S.
Night Safari said the escape was the first since the nocturnal zoo opened in 1994. In 2008, three white Bengal tigers mauled a 32—year—old Malaysia cleaner to death at the adjacent Singapore Zoo after the man jumped into a moat surrounding their enclosure.
