Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ 21-year-old female jaguar, Zenta, was attacked and killed by a 12-year old male jaguar named Harry over the weekend.
Zoo officials said the attack happened in a holding complex and the staff was unable to separate the two big cats before Zenta was killed.
They’re calling the death a “terrible accident” and say an investigation is underway so that something like this never happens again.
Zenta came to Jacksonville in 2006 after she was rescued from a private zoo.
Harry was born at the Jax zoo in 2009.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.