London Zoo fire leaves aardvark dead, 4 meerkats missing
LONDON -- A fire at the London Zoo early Saturday that broke out before opening time left one aardvark dead and four meerkats missing and presumed dead.
Staff members were treated for smoke inhalation and shock after the blaze broke out near a zoo cafe in the early morning hours. Staffers living onsite rushed to move animals as quickly as they could, but they were too late to save Misha, a 9-year-old aardvark.
BBC News reports that one person was taken to a local hospital and eight others were treated at the scene.
Zoo director Dominic Jermey said the staff was "absolutely devastated" by the aardvark's death. "We had our vet team on site immediately but sadly there was nothing that they could do for Misha," Jermey said.
Workers searched in vain for the four missing meerkats throughout the day, but said Saturday evening they were presumed to have died in the blaze, which produced intense flames at first and left a smoky pall over much of the grounds. Vets were called in to monitor the surviving animals.
The zoo remained closed to the public on what had been expected to be a busy day at the popular facility in Regent's Park. It is set to reopen Sunday.
TV footage from the scene showed the Adventure Cafe and shop to be badly damaged. The fire started shortly after 6 a.m. local time. It took 72 firefighters just over three hours to extinguish the fire.
London Fire Brigade station manager David George said the cause of the fire hasn't been established.
"Over the next few hours our specialist fire investigation teams will be searching through the debris and looking and seeing if they can establish a likely cause," he said.