Photo via Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Photo via Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

While the National Zoo is gearing up for the public debut of the Sumatran tiger cubs today, the staff had a minor emergency to deal with this morning after a zebra bit one of its keepers.

According to Zoo spokesperson Pamela Baker-Masson, one of the keepers was bitten several times by a male zebra named Gumu. While the extent of the keeper’s injuries is not known at this time, Baker-Masson told DCist that the person was “bleeding and transported to the hospital” at the time of the injury. The zebra, Gumu, is reportedly doing fine, but has been taken off exhibit, so that things can “calm down,” Baker-Masson says.

The staff at the National Zoo says that they’re still investigating what happened, but it’s “not normal” for a keeper to be in the zebra’s enclosure like that.

Update: A one-year-old male Dama gazelle, named Tony, also died this morning. According to a release, “initial necropsy reports showed evidence of fractured vertebrae which tells us he was likely spooked by the incident and ran into a barrier.”

Filed Under: national zoo, smithsonian national zoo, zebras,