Two staff members walked the 4-year-old cheetah named Isabelle from the cheetah facility in the heart of Africa to a garden behind the scenes for her daily exercise. According to the statement from the Powell Zoo, Ohio, another guard was walking in the area at the same time.
Isabelle’s care team says she was deployed and was ‘calm and pure’, so they invited the guard to come closer. But as the warden approached, ‘Isabelle’ bowed down and walked towards the warden ‘.
The keeper works around giraffes and other hooves and the zoo believes that the smell of these other animals attacked the shepherd Isabelle.
The zoo team members immediately contacted authorities who provided on-site treatment and then transported the keeper to the hospital for further evaluation.
The zoo says it is Isabelle’s first incident and ‘she shares a close bond with her care team.’ She also participates in the cheetah as one of the fastest runners.
According to the rules of the Delaware County General Health District, Isabelle is now on a thirty-day quarantine to ensure she does not show signs of illness. And she will be in the heart of the African section of the zoo again when her quarantine is over.
The zoo says this incident did not take place in a public area. The zoo did not release any details about the container’s injuries for privacy reasons, but said “the caretaker was treated and discharged from a hospital.”
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium houses more than 10,000 animals representing more than 600 species from around the world.