IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- A snow leopard cub at the Tautphaus Park Zoo was found dead on Tuesday morning.

The zoo's interim superintendent Beth Rich said keepers found Aikya when they were going to give her the first feeding of the day.

“This was such a shock to all of us,” Rich said. “She had been thriving, so her death has hit all of us very hard. We were very attached to her.”

The cub had shown no symptoms of distress prior to her death, Rich said.

She said preliminary autopsy reports showed the cub had pneumonia. Tissue samples have been submitted for a more detailed laboratory analysis.