A four-year-old Amur leopard named Irina escaped her enclosure at the Greenville Zoo on July 23, 2026, prompting an emergency response and a temporary closure of the facility and surrounding park areas.
The incident began around 8:42 a. m.
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when the animal left her exhibit. Emergency response teams located and tranquilized Irina on the zoo grounds by approximately 9:20 a.
m.
She received a precautionary second injection before being returned to her secured den under veterinary observation.
City officials confirmed that Irina remained within the zoo's fenced perimeter throughout the incident and never posed a direct threat to the public.
Zoo staff and patrons in adjacent Cleveland Park were evacuated safely by local law enforcement during the containment operation.
The male leopard and two twin cubs, born to Irina in May 2026, remained unharmed inside their exhibit during the event.
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The facility remains closed while staff investigate the cause of the breach.
Joint Response Strategy
Greenville Police Chief J. H. Thompson detailed the joint response strategy between emergency services and local handlers during a press briefing.
"They're going to try to take care of everything they can in the perimeter of their zoo, and then we're on the secondary," Thompson said.
"We're going to take care of anything that comes outside of that."
Thompson highlighted the routine emergency preparation between local authorities and facility personnel.
"The leopard stayed on zoo property inside the fenced area," Thompson said.
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"It was never a threat to the public, everything you saw was just out of an abundance of caution to keep everybody safe."
