A rare antelope at the Bright Zoo in Tennessee died over the weekend after it swallowed and choked on a plastic cap from a squeezable pouch often eaten by children.
Leif, a Sitatunga antelope, was in his enclosure on Saturday when a zookeeper was conducting a routine check, according to the zoo’s director, David Bright, who shared more of what happened with CBS News.
Bright said that while going through the motions, the worker noticed the animal “acting odd” before seeing that fluid was leaking from its mouth.
While the zookeeper quickly called a veterinarian team to dislodge the plastic cap, Bright says they “couldn’t do it in time.”
Bright said the zoo does conduct bag checks for visitors at its privately owned zoo because it doesn’t allow squeezable pouches and other items because of the danger they pose to its exotic animals.
“The reason is simple - the packaging is dangerous to our animals,” the zoo said on its social media page. “If you look at these lids from an animal perspective, it looks like food. This is what forced us to do bag searches but yet some people find ways to sneak these in. Guests are able to go to their car or the picnic areas in our parking lot as many times as they wish and re-enter the zoo.”
So far, Bright says they aren’t aware how the cap got into Leif’s enclosure, and while the public has been supportive, no one has come forward.
“I would respect the person more if they came forward and took responsibility,” Bright said, adding that the cap “had to be thrown,” being that there was no way it could have landed in Leif’s enclosure.
Leif, a 7-year-old male antelope that would have turned 8 at the end of next month, could’ve lived to be 20 or 21 years old, Bright shared, adding that he still had “plenty of life in him yet.” He was known for his calm demeanor, as Bright said he “liked to be in your pocket.”