It was a short, but memorable, trip for all involved — tapir and zookeeper.
Rinny, a 4-year-old Malayan tapir, was seen wandering outside her enclosure in the new Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday.
She escaped by squeezing between the cables surrounding her enclosure, according to zoo spokeswoman Tiffany Barnhart.
After Rinny’s breakout was discovered, the zoo began an emergency evacuation, even though a fence still separated Rinny from guests. However, as soon as the keeper unlocked the padlocked gate separating walkabout Rinny from home, she ran back inside, Barnhart said.
Rinny’s five-minute adventure ended with her being grounded inside, until the zoo can modify the tapir’s outdoor enclosure.
In the meantime, she won’t be seeing visitors or vice-versa.
