ONE aardvark died and four meerkats are missing after a fire at London Zoo.
The fire broke out at approximately 6am yesterday in the Animal Adventure section of the zoo, and spread to an adjacent shop.
Duty staff who live on site were on the scene immediately, and started moving animals to safety. Seventy-two firefighters attended the incident and the fire was brought under control by 9.16am. Some of the staff were treated for smoke inhalation.
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A spokeswoman for London Zoo said staff were "devastated" by the death of nine-year-old aardvark Misha.
She said: "All other animals in the vicinity are being monitored closely by our vets, but early signs suggest they have not been affected. We will continue to monitor them over the coming days.
"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 will be closed for the day and fire crews will remain on site for some time damping down. We will aim to re-open when we know it is safe to do so for animals, staff and visitors."
London Fire Brigade station manager David George said it is not currently known what caused the fire.
Adding: "What we are looking at at the moment is, over the next few hours, our specialist fire investigation teams will be searching through the debris and looking and seeing if they can establish a likely cause for the fire."