TORONTO — An adult African white male lion was fatally shot after it escaped an enclosure at the Papanack Park Zoo east of Ottawa on Sunday.
Ontario Provincial Police were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. after being notified by zoo staff and spotting the animal roaming freely at an unfenced area of the park entrance.
Due to what was determined to be a high risk to public safety, officers and zoo officials decided to euthanize the animal shortly before 5:30 p.m., OPP said in a media release.
“The risk to the public of trying to sedate the lion was simply too high as the sedative takes too long to kick in and this would have put everyone at risk,” owner Kerri Bayford wrote on the zoo’s Facebook page.
The zoo is closed in the winter months and no members of the public were on the grounds when the incident occurred, Bayford said.
“Unfortunately it looks like this was a case of human error and we are going to be debriefing with all our staff to determine exactly what happened,” said Bayford.
The zoo changed ownership two years ago and Bayford said they have been in the process of improving the facility and living conditions for the animals.