A plastic cap from a snack pouch is being blamed for the choking death of a 7-year-old sitatunga antelope named Lief at a private zoo in Tennessee.
Brights Zoo in Limestone says it bans many products, including the squeezable snack cited in the death in a post on its Facebook page, along with a photo of two similar pouches found in the trash after the incident. One cap somehow ended up in Lief's enclosure.
"If you look at these lids from an animal perspective it looks like food," it said, pointing out the bright red caps. "This is what forced us to do bag searches, but yet some people find ways to sneak these in."
In addition to pouches, the zoo prohibits plastic straws and glass bottles due to worries about the animals.
Sitatunga are rare animals native to Central Africa, zoo director David Bright told The New York Times.
Zoo staff noticed the animal in distress, but a veterinary team was unable to dislodge the cap soon enough and Lief died the next day.