Photo: Kyle Bray/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — An alert has been issued: two African painted dogs have gotten loose from their enclosure at Franklin Park Zoo.
Zoo staff along with local and state law enforcement officials spring to action.
But the two "painted dogs" actually were role players in red vests, and the escape scenario was a drill designed to provide officials with the practice needed to protect the public, zoo staff, and the animals.
Zoo escapes are very rare, but Zoo New England President and CEO John Linehan said conducting these types of drills that directly involve all zoo staff members helps keep staff and law enforcement prepared for the real thing. "We emphasize everybody's involved in this," Linehan said.
He was the drill's Incident Commander. "Everybody's got a role and that's how we'll be successful," he said.
Animal experts say that escapes are so rare because well-kept animals are generally content where they are and aren't motivated to leave their surroundings.
However, human error and even vandalism can lead to animals getting out into public areas.
Linehan said whatever caused the escape, what's most important is keeping staff and the public safe while having the experience needed to return the animals to their enclosures without any injuries. "We hope we never have to do it, but that's why we do these drills," he said.
Linehan added that one of the biggest challenges in these scenarios is locating the animals as they can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.
But he said the use of a drone or even a helicopter would be used to help locate the animals.
In this particular drill, the painted dogs were located and safely returned home.
WBZ's Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.
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