It's been a dramatic week for the San Francisco Zoo, which has been coping with the mysterious disappearance -- and even more curious return --of a stolen monkey.
Now, they are grappling with the death of a 6-month-old bison, which died last night after a small pup made its way into the bison paddock in Golden Gate Park, where it was seen running around.
The dog -- which wasn't on a leash -- entered the paddock where the city's seven new bison were staying to get acclimated to their new surroundings. But at about 9 a.m. on Wednesday, park patrol spotted the pup running around the paddock. The dog's handler was seen trying to coax the pup out. Eventually, the dog burrowed itself under the fence and left the paddock, zoo official told reporters.
When zookeepers were notified, they followed up and discovered the baby bison had a laceration to its left side and three broken ribs. The bison has apparently run into a fence because it was startled by the dog, new reports say.
Staff took the bison out of the herd and later returned it to the group. Zookeepers found the bison dead at about 5:20 p.m., according to media outlets.
It's still unclear as to whether the dog was responsible for the baby bison's injuries or how the bison died.
We will tell you more when we know more.
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