ESCAPED LEOPARD FOUND DROWNED.

Shannon News, 13 October 1925, Page 2

ESCAPED LEOPARD FOUND DROWNED.

* POISONED' BY TANNERY CHEMICALS. AUCKLAND, Oct. 11. The alarums and excursions regarding the female leopard which escaped from the Zoo on September 16th, were ended to-day, .when the beast , was found in Lady Bay, near St. d-leliers. The leopard was floating belly up, hut theeo were no signs of decomposition. However, it must have been in the water for some time to come to the surface. . St. Heliers is nine miles to the east iof Auckland, while the Zoo is in a western suburb. Its recovery will be a great relief to the western suburbs, and t-lie dwellers in bush-clad Waitakere hills, where there has, been an undercurrent of anxiety for -over three weeks. AUCKLAND, Oct. 12. The leopard was in an excellent state of preservation and could have been dead only tw>c< or three days, though it is 25 days since it escaped from; the Zoo. The animal evidently fell into a chemical vat at the tannery, scrambled out, and fell into'another pit. It crawled thence into the scrub, where it cleansed itself with its tongue, absorbing a quantity of injurious chemical. It became ill and too weak to 'hunt and fell into the creek while drinking, after which the ebb tide carried the carcase down to the harbour.