Justin and Carmelita in April. Photo by Jen Zoon, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

A very unfortunate deer apparently jumped into the National Zoo’s cheetah yard today and did not make it out.

A spokesperson for the Zoo says that at approximately 11:40 a.m., “a keeper heard bleating from the cheetah yard.”

“Upon investigation the keeper saw a [wild] white tail deer on the ground with a cheetah applying a throat bite and another cheetah at the rear of the deer,” spokesperson Annalisa Meyer said, adding that the cheetahs involved are siblings, Carmelita and Justin. “The deer had expired. The carcass was promptly removed from the yard by 11:54 a.m.”

Meyer said the Zoo assumes that the deer jumped into the enclosure, although they don’t have any witnesses. “A necropsy report will be conducted on the deer to ensure it does not have any diseases,” Meyer said. “Our animal care team will check the cheetahs, but all signs point to them being healthy and unharmed. Zoo police blocked both ends of the predator prey trail as the deer had expired along that fence line.”

Shout out to the unfortunate deer that jumped into the cheetah exhibit for brightening my day.

— Ethan Nadeau (@enads8) December 27, 2013