PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — Seven lemurs were killed at a Panama City Beach zoo on Thursday after a fire broke out in their enclosure, officials said
Six ruffed lemurs named Pluto, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury died from smoke inhalation after an electrical fire ignited in their night house in the early morning hours at ZooWorld Panama Beach, according to the company’s Facebook page.
The seventh lemur, Venus, died later in the day.
A statement released by the zoo stated: “We are absolutely devastated by this disaster. We loved our lemurs and, like many of our guests, had a pretty special bond with the entire troop. In circumstances like these, we search hard for silver linings to guide us along our day.”
“This was a disaster, and it is beyond sad. We feel every bit of that to our bones, but will honor our lemurs and this park by pushing forward and rebuilding out of the rubble something that everyone will be proud of.”
ZooWorld was closed due to the fire and was expected to reopen on Monday.
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