Community Corner

Deer Killed in Apparent Encounter with Cheetahs at National Zoo

A white-tailed deer roaming near an urban environment crossed paths with two cheetahs at the National Zoo and didn't survive.

A white-tailed deer whose worst enemy in the Washington, D.C., area is likely a human behind the wheel apparently jumped into a cheetah enclosure at the National Zoo and was killed, according to news reports.

A zookeeper heard a commotion and the dead deer was found in the cheetah exhibit about 11:40 a.m. Friday, according to The Washington Post. There were reportedly two cheetahs in the enclosure.

The deer population in the city and surrounding suburbs has exploded, creating dangerous and sometimes bizarre encounters between humans and nature.
Earlier in December in Virginia, a woman was jogging on a path near the Dulles Greenway when an SUV driven by a 71-year-old woman struck a deer and sent it flying into the jogger, The Post reported. The driver and the woman were not seriously injured. The deer was killed.

On Dec. 20, a Prince George's County police car hit a deer, smashing the windshield and killing the deer, police said.



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