Fossa bite incident still under investigation

Posted By: Veronica Ortega

vortega@klkntv.com

On Sunday, a 2 year-old was bitten by Leezoe the fossa, a catlike animal from Madagascar. Zoo officials say the animal did not escape its habitat and the child was not inside the enclosure when the accident happened. They say something like this has never happened before.

"An incident like this, from what we can go back and look at our history from the staff that’s been here 30 years have never encountered to this extent, and so it’s very rare and that’s due to the fact we are very conscious of the safety of our guest, staff, and animals," Ryan Gross, with the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, said.

While the zoo will not speculate what happened, the main viewing area is behind glass, and natural barriers, such as trees and bushes surround his habitat, but it is possible to work your way to the side and back of the structure where behind roped off areas, you could get close to the fossa.

Officials say depending on the danger level of an animal procedures are put in place to ensure the safety of everyone. For example,when going into and out of habitats staff must radio in what they’re doing.

There are double doors with multiple locks, and when interacting with animals in close quarters, you must remain behind a yellow line at all times. Leezoe, wasn’t outside today because he prefers the warm weather.

"This is an animal that doesn’t have human contact usually. Depending on what happened the fossa could have come in contact in a way that was non-aggressive, but in a playful way that then had an injury occur from it," Gross said.

Zoo officials say they’re still investigating the incident. Leezoe is completely up to date on all of his shots, and he definitely will not be put down for what happened.