VIDEO: Deer Leaps Into Lion Exhibit

It was a scary scene at the National Zoo over the weekend after a deer jumped into the lion's enclosure and right into the path of danger.

A day after a frightening ordeal at the National Zoo, it was back to normal at the lion exhibit on Monday, where visitors snapped pictures and the lions soaked up the sun. But over the weekend, visitors watched in horror as a wild deer jumped into the den then tried to escape the two female lions. It was all captured in a home video posted on YouTube.

"It's kind of surprising. I didn't think it would be easy for a deer to get into the cage or in the zoo at least," says National Zoo visitor Anna Mejia.

The shocking events began to unfold shortly before 3 p.m. when a deer clearly took a wrong turn and wandered into harm's way.

Zoo officials believe the white tailed deer wandered into a part of the zoo that borders Rock Creek Park and made its way all the way up to in front of the lions' den.

"There were a large number of people here yesterday. The deer was probably spooked by the public. She ran and she jumped, but she jumped into the wrong direction," says National Zoo Spokesperson Pamela Baker-Masson.

The deer jumped over the rail and down the 13-foot wall to the moat below. That was when the two female lions tried to trap the deer.
The two female lions involved, Naba and Shira, were back out on Monday.

What you don't see on the home video is how the lion handlers were able to get Naba and Shira away from the deer.

"They were able to get the lions attention, two adult female lions, get them transitioned back inside, and then they came into the yard to help the deer," says Masson.

The deer sustained a number of abdominal injuries and had to be euthanized. Many deer live in Rock Creek Park but rarely wander onto the grounds, let alone right into the lions' den.

The zoo does have a fence partially enclosing the property. Plans are to put fence up along one particular stretch where the deer is thought to have wandered in.