Staff and police shoot three wolves dead after escape from Colchester Zoo

 
On the loose: A Timber wolf like the one which escaped from the zoo

Three wolves were shot dead today after a pack broke free from Colchester Zoo.

Five of Colchester Zoo's six Timber wolves fled their enclosure into thick undergrowth at 8am today after it was damaged.

Two of the wolves had to be shot dead as they had fled too far from the zoo.

A police hunt was launched for the third, which was considered a danger to the public by authorities.

The animal was spotted in a hedgerow by a police helicopter. Officers cordoned off the area before a member of the zoo's staff shot the wolf dead this afternoon.

Of the other two animals, one went straight back into its pen, and another was hit with a tranquilizer dart and recaptured.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Police are assisting staff at Colchester Zoo in the search for a wolf which escaped.

“The helicopter and ground units are searching Maldon Road and the fields surrounding.

“Officials at the zoo said Wolves are naturally timid but should not be cornered in any way.”

A statement from the Zoo said: "Colchester Zoo’s keepers have been devastated by the loss of two of their beloved Timber wolves.

"At 7.30am on Tuesday 26th November, it was discovered that the perimeter fence to Colchester Zoo’s wolf enclosure had been damaged and five of the six timber wolves had left the enclosure.

"Unfortunately, an anaesthetic dart takes 15 minutes to take effect and may not work at all in a stressed animal so two wolves that had left the perimeter of the zoo had to be shot."

"They are wild animals and in an unpredictable situation they would have posed a risk to the public.

"The remaining wolf has now been located and very sadly also had to be destroyed."

The Timber wolf, or grey wolf, weighs up to 45kg. It hunts in packs and is at the top of food chains in its natural habitat. Its main prey is large mammals but is also known to eat smaller creatures and carrion. The majority of attacks on humans come from when the animal is infected with rabies.

The zoo's website says the wolves live in packs of five to 10 in the wild, as part of a "highly organised social structure".

"Each pack fiercely defends a territory of several hundred square kilometres by scent marking the boundary and howling to members of the same pack and other packs," the website adds.

Colchester Zoo, which is home to more than 260 different species, is set over 60 acres of parkland in Essex and opened in 1963.

Last year a lion was reportedly sighted near Clacton in Essex, but police called off their search after finding no evidence to confirm its existence.

In October, six lion-tailed macaque monkeys went missing from Belfast Zoo. Police and zoo keepers returned four of them to the zoo within three days, but the last was on the loose for 10 days before being returned.

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