A bear has been shot dead and officials are searching for two lions, two tigers and a jaguar that escaped from a German zoo, according to police.
It's been reported that the animals have broken out from the privately owned Eifel zoo in Lünebach, Germany.
According to BBC, local authorities have advised residents to stay inside their homes and call the police if they see any of the five predators at large.
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The caution has come even though the escaped animals are still believed to be on the grounds of the zoo.
According to Sky News, it's unclear what circumstances lead to the bear's death.
German media reports have suggested the animals' enclosures were damaged in a storm, after a river overflowed and damaged fences.
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The zoo is home to around 400 animals, including a Siberian tigers and African lions as well as many more big cats.
Vets are said to be on sight as well as police and firefighters.
According to the zoo's website, it is owned by the Wallpott family and has three permanent employees.
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Early reports from the regional broadcaster SWR suggested that lions and pumas had escaped, but officers later confirmed that the big cats were lions, tigers, and a jaguar.
According to the German broadcaster, heavy rain meant the water level increased and almost the 'entire zoo was flooded'.
Exact details of how the animals managed to escape or exactly when they got out were not clear. Wildlife lovers said the case showed wild animals should not be kept in cages.
One woman tweeted: "An innocent animal shot because the zoo clearly couldn't keep the animals safely in captivity."
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This escape has come two years after another similar case happened in eastern Germany, when two lions broke out of their cages at the Leipzig Zoo, in Leipzig, the AFP reported.
Earlier this month a holidaymaker called out a government-run zoo in the Philippines, saying that they found a blind lioness 'clearly suffering' in a cage that 'was not clean enough'.
The visitor, a woman who wishes to remain anonymous, said that Lyka the lioness had been written off as a 'breeding mistake' by the Maasin Zoo in Iloilo, southern Philippines, having gone blind after being born in 2013 with eyesight problems.
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The woman said that she felt sorry for the five-year-old lioness, explaining that she looked depressed in her small, three-feet-wide cage.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Tiger, Zoo, News, Germany, Animals, Bear, Lions