LONDON — More than 70 firefighters battled a blaze at the London Zoo early Saturday that engulfed a cafe, killed at least one animal — an aardvark — and left some staff members suffering from smoke inhalation, the zoo said.
Four meerkats were missing, a spokeswoman for the zoo said.
The zoo, in Regent’s Park in central London, will remain closed until possibly Sunday.
The fire broke out shortly after 6 a.m. local time in the Animal Adventure section, the zoo said in a statement, near an area where visitors feed the animals,
Half a nearby petting zoo and an adjacent gift shop and cafe were destroyed, according to the London Fire Brigade.
Staff members from the zoo quickly moved animals like llamas and camels to safety, and the fire was brought under control after 9 a.m.
“A number of zoo staff have been treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and shock,” the zoo said. “Our staff are now in the process of assessing the situation in difficult conditions.”
Continue reading the main storyThe zoo later discovered that a 9-year-old aardvark named Misha had died, the spokeswoman said.
“We are all naturally devastated by this, but are immensely grateful to the fire brigade, who reacted quickly to the situation to bring the fire under control,” the zoo said.
The Fire Brigade, which sent 72 firefighters and 10 fire engines to the blaze, said a firefighter had suffered a wrist injury and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
The world’s oldest scientific zoo, the London zoo dates back to the 1800s and houses more than 20,000 animals, according to its 2017 inventory. The zoo is estimated to receive more than a million visitors each year.
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