Milwaukee County Zoo announces death of jaguar cub

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Milwaukee County Zoo announced Thursday, November 6th the unexpected death of its newest female jaguar cub, Anahish.

Anahish was born August 14th, along with a male litter mate, Francisco.  The cubs were born to 10-year-old mother, Stella, and 15-year-old father, Pat.

The death occurred Thursday morning when an interior animal shift door in the Big Cat building's holding area was inadvertently left open, allowing a two-year-old young adult male jaguar, Zean, to enter the area, which housed the mother, Stella, and the cubs.  Zean fatally injured the female cub.

Two zookeepers jumped into action immediately -- and they were able to separate the jaguars using water hoses, but it was too late to save the cub.

Zoo officials report Stella is showing some agitation at this time. Stella and Francisco will remain off exhibit for an undetermined amount of time.  The Zoo will conduct a full investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident.

"Oh the (zoo)keepers are just crushed -- and so are we. They do good work back there and they are really concerned about all of the animal collection that they take care of," Milwaukee County Zoo Director Chuck Wikenhauser said.

A complete necropsy (animal autopsy) will be performed at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.  Preliminary results could be available within a few weeks.

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