Tapir briefly escapes his enclosure at Zoo Miami

An adult Tapir briefly escaped his enclosure at Zoo Miami on Tuesday morning after he was started by maintenance workers using a lawn mower. 

The Florida zoo announced that the adult male Malayan tapir had escaped from his habitat just before 7:45 a.m. after maintenance machinery started operating near its area.

"The tapir just compromised [the enclosure]," said Ron Magill, director of communications at Zoo Miami. "It climbed out the back side of the moat."

There was "nothing nefarious about the animal getting out" of the enclosure, which had never been breached before, Magill added. 

The tapir is a new arrival at the zoo and was probably startled by the noise of the lawnmower nearby, causing him to try to flee, Magill continued. 

Zoo Miami officials, in coordination with the zoo’s Animal Health team, quickly set out to look for the Tapir and eventually contained him. He was tranquilized and transported to a secure holding space. 

The zoo said that the animal did not pose a threat to the general public while it was roaming around the zoo. The animal will be kept in its holding facility until staff can find a way to prevent it from escaping in the future. 

 Tapirs are large, pig-like mammals that can weigh up to 800 pounds. While they are considered to be gentle, they sometimes have unpredictable behaviors and have been known to attack humans in the past. 

The Tapir’s escape comes at a time when other incidents have been happening in zoos around the nation. 

On February 2, an eagle owl went missing from its exhibit at New York City’s Central Park Zoo. Officials believe his enclosure was vandalized. 

The Dallas Zoo has also reported several missing animals since January, including a clouded leopard and two emperor tamarin monkeys.