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Vulture’s ‘Suspicious’ Death at Dallas Zoo Kicks Off Police Investigation

The bird was discovered dead under “unusual circumstances” just over a week after a clouded leopard at the same zoo escaped her enclosure.

A police investigation was launched Saturday into the “suspicious” death of a vulture at the Dallas Zoo, officials said in a statement, issued just over a week after a clouded leopard at the same facility disappeared from her enclosure under similarly questionable circumstances. Zoo employees found the endangered vulture deceased in its habitat earlier on Saturday. The bird’s death did “not appear to be from natural causes,” and was described as “unusual” in nature, the zoo said, without elaborating. “The animal care team is heartbroken over this tremendous loss,” the zoo added. A necropsy is expected to be conducted. On Jan. 13, just moments before the Dallas Zoo announced they’d located the missing leopard, Nova, unharmed after an hours-long search operation, the Dallas police said they were probing her escape. Investigators said they’d determined a “cutting tool” was used to slice an opening into the fencing around Nova’s habitat. The next day, the department disclosed that zoo staffers had discovered a “similar cut” in the fencing around a langur monkey enclosure. None of the monkeys had escaped, however, and none were harmed. It was not immediately clear whether the three separate incidents were connected.