Luke Lukert | llukert@wtop.com

A wild fox that could be responsible for terrorizing and killing dozens of flamingoes at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C. has been caught and killed.

Zoo officials say they set a trap for the wild animal and it caught a fox either Thursday night or Friday morning.

That fox was then humanely euthanized, according to the zoo.

A spokesperson for the zoo said they don’t know if the animal was the same one that killed the flamingos.

On May 2, staff were doing regular rounds early that morning, “and they came upon what appeared to be a commotion in the yard and saw a fox in the exhibit,” said Bryan Amaral, senior curator at the zoo, at the time.

The fox ran away at the sight of the zoo workers and they found 25 flamingoes and one duck were killed.

The fox likely got in through a hole in the heavy mesh fencing around the flamingo habitat that was the size of a softball.

The flamingoes’ wings were clipped so they can’t fly, leaving them without their natural defense.

The zoo didn’t test the fox for rabies because birds can’t actually catch the virus.

Since joining WTOP Luke Lukert has held just about every job in the newsroom from producer to web writer and now he works as a full-time reporter. He is an avid fan of UGA football. Go Dawgs!

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