Revelations that a polar bear and a snow leopard came close to escaping from their enclosures at the San Francisco Zoo over the past week renewed questions Friday about the safety of visitors and workers at the facility, several zookeepers said.
A female polar bear nearly scaled the wall of her enclosure on Jan. 3, several zookeepers have told The Chronicle, almost escaping and prompting the zoo to raise the height of the exhibit wall the next day. A week later, on Thursday, a snow leopard chewed through a temporary enclosure, according to a zoo spokesman.
The zookeepers said the latest incidents made them fearful for their safety and called into question whether visitors are safe. But zoo officials disputed the keepers’ characterization of the incidents, saying that the wild animals were acting normally and that neither posed a threat to employees or the public.