The Capital of Texas Zoo in Bastrop County has made several fixes to its facility after the U.S. Department of Agriculture found three wallabies died of fright at the zoo over the summer.

In August, three of four wallabies died in one exhibit at the zoo after becoming frightened by stray dogs running along the fence adjacent to the exhibit, the federal agency said in its Sept. 28 report. Wallabies are known to be easily frightened by potential predators to an extent that they may run into objects or run excessively. The wallabies at the zoo died of heat exhaustion after running excessively because of the stray dogs, the agency said.

"We are heartbroken that this happened to our wallabies," Michael Hicks, Capital of Texas Zoo director, told the Bastrop Advertiser. "The fact that they had been in there over 15 years without any problem shows that sometimes you cannot anticipate every eventuality. We have taken steps to make sure it never happens again."

Hicks said dogs showed up to the outside perimeter fence of the wallaby exhibit and barked at the animals, frightening them and causing their death. The dogs never breached the fence, "it was simply their presence which caused the problem."

The federal agriculture department said visual barriers along exhibit fence lines can reduce the change of this happening and is part of housing husbandry seen at other facilities. The federal agency said there were bushes in the wallaby exhibit but there were no other visual barriers along the fence line to prevent the animals from being frightened.

"The Capital of Texas Zoo has put animals at risk, and the deaths of these three wallabies should prompt immediate action," said Brittany Peet, with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "PETA is calling on the roadside zoo to release the surviving wallaby to a reputable sanctuary, which could ensure his or her safety and security."

Hicks said the zoo has added a wooden fence to serve as a visual and physical barrier so the remaining wallaby cannot be scared to death. He said the zoo never attempted to hide what happened to the wallabies when the federal agency made its inspection and explained to it in full what happened at the time.

The agriculture department also found the zoo needed to update some items on its written program of veterinary care, including medications used on certain species as well as the drug used for euthanasia. The department also found the barrier fence in front of the dingo exhibit was bent and needed to be repaired to keep the public a safe distance from the animals. Also, the shelter for a male camel needed to be made taller as the camel’s hump was about 3 inches taller than the doorway to the shelter.

Hicks said the camel was easily able to go in his shelter — he only scraped about the top 2 inches of the fur on his hump went he went in. Nonetheless, the zoo raised the top of the shelter by 2 feet.

He said the barrier in front of the dingoes was made of field fence that got a little loose at the upper right corner; however, the animals were always shielded from the public. Hicks said the fence has been replaced with a more solid barrier.

"We accept full responsibility for the write-ups by the USDA, and corrected them immediately," Hicks said, adding that the zoo’s workers are dedicated to their profession and work hard to take care of its animals. "We continue to refine our techniques and our facilities to improve the care of our animals."

In its report, the federal agriculture department stated the zoo had corrected all the issues it found by Oct. 28.

Past issues

The zoo was written up in May after federal inspectors found the facility was not providing adequate veterinary care for a male fossa, a cat-like relative of the mongoose from Madagascar. It had suffered from a chronic eye condition. The zoo also hadn’t provided water for two African crested porcupines at the time of the inspection, and the water in the hippopotamus pool was "dark green" and contained "floating material," inspectors noted.

A report from January also said the hippo enclosure wasn’t secure.

An October 2015 report also detailed that the facility’s program of veterinary care stated that "blunt force trauma" was a form of euthanasia used to put down guinea pigs. Zoo wokers told inspectors the facility didn’t use that unauthorized form of euthanasia, but the zoo’s veterinarian needed to create a written euthanasia policy, the report stated.

None of those past issues were cited in September’s federal inspection.