A wild fox from nearby Rock Creek Park killed 25 flamingos after it got into an enclosure at the National Zoo in Northwest Washington.

       Officials at the facility said the slaughter was discovered early Monday when a staffer who helps run the bird house, where the zoo’s flock of 74 flamingos live, saw a fox in the flamingos’ yard area and found the dead birds. The fox got away, zoo officials said. They said they believe it probably got through a hole, about the size of a baseball, in the heavy mesh fencing around the flamingos’ habitat.

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       The birds are “American flamingos,” best known for their pink color and standing on one leg. The zoo said a Northern pintail duck was also killed by the fox and three other flamingos were hurt and were being treated at the zoo’s veterinary hospital.

       Brandie Smith, director of the National Zoo, said the scene of death, found by the staffer around 6:20 a.m., was “awful.” Smith said the incident probably “happened in the overnight hours, when foxes are most active.”

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       She said workers found the hole that had “been chewed in the mesh and allowed the fox to go in and out.” Smith said it was “normal fox behavior,” noting that foxes are predators and that she had no concerns that the fox had rabies. Officials said they tried to capture the fox in live traps but had not.

       “We’re still in shock right now,” Smith said.

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       In the wild, flamingos can fly away from danger, but the zoo’s flamingos had their wings clipped and were probably unable to defend themselves against the fox, zoo officials said.

       “This is a heartbreaking loss for us and everyone who cares about our animals,” Smith said in a statement.

       Dan Rauch, the city’s wildlife biologist, said a flamingo to a fox is “like a chicken with longer legs and a different color.” The fox, he said, was probably attracted to the flamingos because they’re “just a taller bird for them, and they’re an enclosed food source.”

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       “Turkeys in the wild can move away” from a predator, Rauch said, “and so can ducks. But these guys are kind of stuck.”

       The rest of the flamingo flock was moved inside to its barn, officials said, and the ducks were taken to a “covered, secure outdoor space.” The zoo’s bird house has been closed to the public because it is undergoing a renovation.

       The flamingo killings mark the first time there has been a “predator mesh breach” at their exhibit since it was set up in the 1970s, but the fox was not the first zoo intruder. In 2002, the zoo lost several ducks and other birds that were in more-open areas of the campus, after predators came in from Rock Creek Park. The next year, a bald eagle was killed by an unidentified predator that dug under a fence.

       Smith said the barrier at the flamingos’ habitat has a “dig barrier” around it and that the heavy mesh around the yard had “passed inspection” and had not been a problem in the past. Similar mesh is used by other accredited zoos across the country, she said.

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       But “foxes are persistent, especially when they’re feeding kits,” as they are at this time of the year, Rauch said. “They’ll raid the same location several times a night,” he said. “They’re survivors and can chew through nylon or mesh. They can also leap, which makes flamingos vulnerable, regardless of their height.”

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       Officials said there are regular checks and staff inspections of exhibits for animals several times a day. The last inspection of the outdoor yards around the bird house had been done around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At that inspection, officials said, “no areas of concern were observed at the flamingo habitat.”

       But in the inspection Monday morning, several problems were found, including the new hole in the mesh.

       Zoo officials said they did not know exactly how the hole was made and are investigating the incident. They have since reinforced the fencing. Crews also set up traps in the area in case the fox returns and added a “hot wire line” that will give a predator a slight shock if it tries to climb the fencing.

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       The fencing had been last replaced in 2017 and had passed an accreditation inspection by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, according to zoo officials. Smith said crews would work on “fortifying our habitats.”

       Live traps have also been set up around the bird house to try to “catch any predators,” officials said. Zoo officials said they have also set up digital-camera traps, with infrared sensors that are triggered by movement, to photograph overnight activity.

       Last month, a mother fox and her three kits were euthanized after several incidents on the U.S. Capitol grounds in which the adult fox attacked or bit passersby. The mother fox tested positive for rabies.

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       The American flamingo and the Northern pintail duck are species of “least concern,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Flamingos are found in the wild in the Caribbean and along the northern coast of South America and typically live 40 to 60 years.

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       There are roughly 80,000 to 90,000 American flamingos in the wild, but they face loss of their habitat because of “mineral mining and human disturbance,” zoo officials said.

       Smith said her staff members had been “incredible” and “went into immediate recovery mode” to protect the rest of the flamingos and the other 17 ducks.

       “We were doing everything right, but this fox got in,” Smith said. “Our job right now is to make sure it does not happen again.”