DALLAS — The Dallas Zoo found its missing clouded leopard, Nova, this afternoon after an arduous search Friday. Zoo officials announced they spotted Nova on Zoo property around 4:40 p.m. She was located very near the original habitat, and teams secured her safely just before 5:15 p.m.

Zoo officials said she doens't look hurt and is being evaluated by Dallas Zoo veterinary staff. 

The zoo was in a Code Blue situation most of the day, meaning that a non-dangerous animal is out of its habitat. The zoo shut down for the day as team members and the Dallas Police Department combed the area.

Zoo and Dallas police officials held a press conference Friday afternoon and said this situation is unprecedented. According to Dallas Zoo President and CEO Greg Hudson, staff realized Nova wasn’t in her exhibit, and they found a suspicious opening in the habitat wall. 

Evidence was found that the fence of the small cat's habitat had been “intentionally” cut, police said. DPD is launching a criminal investigation into the incident.

The zoo tweeted that the cat named Nova, who weighs about 20-25 pounds (9-11 kilograms), did not appear injured and was found near her original habitat. The search had closed Texas' largest zoo to visitors while staff and police combed the 100-acre (40-hectare) grounds.

Police and zoo officials said they have reviewed surveillance footage but would not say what it showed or whether there were potential suspects.

“It is our belief that this was an intentional act,” Dallas Police Sgt. Warren Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Dallas police at first dispatched SWAT officers to the zoo, not understanding the size of a clouded leopard. Police drones helped search the zoo grounds, including trees. Harrison Edell, executive vice president of animal care and conservation at the Dallas Zoo, said clouded leopards like to climb.

Another clouded leopard at the zoo, Nova's sister, did not leave its habitat.

Clouded leopards are bigger than house cats and smaller than a bobcat. Their natural habitat is in the jungle, high in the trees.

Animals have escaped enclosures from the Dallas Zoo before. Most notably was in 2004, when a 340-pound (154-kilogram) gorilla named Jabari jumped over a wall and went on a 40-minute rampage that injured three people before police shot and killed the animal.

The Dallas Zoo will open some of its exhibits on Saturday.