A 52-year-old elephant broke free from her enclosure at a zoo in New Mexico.
Alice, an Asian elephant, was discovered outside of her enclosure by security workers at Albuquerque’s ABQ BioPark at 7.30 a.m. Sunday.
Animal care staff arrived on the site within ten minutes of being called and initiated an emergency response, according to a statement from zoo officials.
Lynn Tupa, the associate director at the facility, told KRQE that the elephant had been “out for a while” by the time that she was discovered.
“She’s a big girl, and what we really used is the relationship between her and the keepers,” Tupa said.
“They were able to call to her, and she started to come to them, and then we also used some of our heavy equipment to block the areas so she couldn’t turn around and head back out.”
Alice was unharmed during the efforts to get her back to her enclosure, officials said in the statement.
“She wasn’t panicky,” Tupa said. “I think she kind of had a little night out, and kind of enjoyed her time, but was, as I said, ready to come back home.”
The park was forced to delay opening for 30 minutes as staff worked to clear debris created by Alice eating plants and trees near her habitat, officials said.
Tupa told KRQE the only damage to Alice’s habitat was to a section of the enclosure’s fence, where the elephant had pushed against stationary steel and broke through welds that had been in place almost 20 years.
The associate director told the outlet that larger pieces of metal pipe had been installed to prevent Alice from escaping again.
No other elephants escaped during the incident and there were no guests present in the park, zoo officials said.
“The BioPark routinely runs drills to practice response to all types of emergencies, and today, the staff executed that protocol perfectly,” the press release read.
Alice has lived at ABQ Biopark since 1991 and is a firm favorite with visitors, along with her daughter Rozie.
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