Five meerkats drop dead at Philadelphia zoo after exposure to mystery ‘toxin’

Officials at the Philadelphia Zoo say the deaths of all five of their meerkats may have been caused by accidental poisoning from an agricultural dye.

The meerkats — named Nkosi, Lula, Nya, Kgala, and Ari — were siblings who came to the zoo about a decade ago, and passed away suddenly over the past two weeks.

“The whole staff is devastated,” Philadelphia Zoo’s chief experience officer Amy Shearer told CNN.

The zoo is now examining whether a dye used for the past three decades to differentiate animals may have caused a toxic reaction.

Officials have suspended the use of Nyanzol-D while they investigate the deaths.

Ms Shearer told CNN that zookeepers first noticed the meerkats behaving strangely on 1 June.

A veterinary team was called to examine the animals, and the first meerkat died the same day.

The other meerkats were taken to a veterinary facility, where three more quickly died.

The fifth meerkat passed away last week, the zoo said.

Staff are awaiting the results of a necropsy to confirm the cause of death.

Rachel Metz, the zoo’s vice president of animal wellbeing, said the deaths had hit staff hard.

“Our staff spend more time with these animals than they do with their own families or even their pets at home,” she told 6ABC.

“So there's a real legitimate bond they feel with the animals, and obviously they're devastated right now."

Ms Metz described them as “very popular, very charismatic animals with individual personalities”.

Part of the mongoose family, meerkats are known for their distinctive habit of standing upright on their hind legs to keep watch for predators.