Jaguars enjoy snow day at zoo

LOS ANGELES. - Despite warm spring weather, there was snow at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday for two lucky jaguars. One-year-old cub, Valerio, and his mother, Nindiri, got a surprise treat in their enclosure as they awoke to a blanket of icy snow - complete with buried meatball treats hidden throughout. It was the first time the animals had encountered snow, San Diego Zoo senior mammal keeper Kimberly Hyde said. "When they first came out, I expected Nindiri and Valerio to be really surprised, and they were. I really hoped that Valerio would have explored more and had been playful in the snow, but he was a little cautious and that's ok." Jaguars are the largest cats in the western hemisphere and the third largest of the world's cats. They are listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.