Overdrawing on your checking account is never a good thing, but for people who live in the Philadelphia-area, it can be especially costly.

A new survey from Bankrate.com found banks in the Philadelphia metropolitan area charge the highest average overdraft fees in the United States at $35.30.

In the U.S. overall, the average overdraft fee hit a new high this year at $33.38, bouncing back up from a one-year drop in 2016. The most common overdraft fee is $35. 

Bankrate.com looked at fees charged by 10 banks in each of the 25 largest metropolitan areas to compile the survey.

Out-of-network ATM fees have also risen to new heights. For the 11th year in a row, these ATM fees hit a record increasing to an average of $4.69, Bankrate.com found.

Bankrate.com calculated the fee total by combining two charges consumers are typically charged: the surcharge by the ATM they're using and the fee charged by their bank for using an out-of-network ATM. Both of these surcharges went up this year.

Philadelphia ranks 10th in out-of-network ATM fees in the Bankrate.com survey. Another Pennsylvania city, Pittsburgh, took the top perch for these fees.

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"When it comes to ATM and overdraft fees, a little advance planning can go a long way," Bankrate.com chief financial analyst Greg McBride said. "Knowing where you can make free ATM withdrawals and monitoring your available balance to avoid overdrafts are as close as your smartphone."

On overdraft fees specifically, Bankrate.com suggests turning off overdraft protection to ensure your debit card is simply declined when there is not enough money available for a purchase.

Here’s a list of where top cities rank by the highest and lowest fees:

Highest Average Overdraft Fee by Metro

1. Philadelphia — $35.30
2. Baltimore — $35.25
3. Miami — $34.68
4. New York — $34.63
5. San Diego — $34.22

Lowest Average Overdraft Fee by Metro

21. Seattle — $32.20
22. St. Louis — $31.85
23. Detroit — $31.80
24. Boston — $31.79

25. San Francisco — $31.44

Highest Average ATM Fee by Metro

1. Pittsburgh — $5.19
2. New York — $5.14
3. Washington, D.C. — $5.11 (tie)
3. Cleveland — $5.11 (tie)
5. Atlanta — $5.05

Lowest Average ATM Fee by Metro

21. Cincinnati — $4.30
22. Seattle — $4.29
23. San Francisco — $4.23
24. Milwaukee — $4.19
25. Dallas — $4.07

A kilogram of fentanyl seized by law enforcement agencies at a non-descript shopping center in Cheltenham Township this summer was enough of the deadly synthetic opioid to "kill half the population of Montgomery County."

More than 800,000 people live in Philadelphia's most populous suburban county.

"We're the third-largest county in the state and this amount of fentanyl is that deadly," county District Attorney Kevin Steele said of the July purchase announced Tuesday.

After undercover detectives made the $64,000 buy July 24, they were able to follow the purchase back to a dealer in Bronx. Three suspects, including a man and woman from Philadelphia, have been arrested for the illegal fentanyl.

"Given that 2 to 3 milligrams — five or six grains of fentanyl — can be fatal, this one kilo contained anywhere between 333,000 and 500,000 fatal doses," Steele said. "This seizure without a doubt saved many lives."

The potent pain killer, which in recent years has become a leading killer of heroin users and others illegally using prescription pills, has become a target of law enforcement battling the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Fentanyl has been described as 100 times stronger than heroin. The synthetic drug also has raised concerns among first responders, like police, firefighters and medical personnel, because exposure can prove fatal.

Some recent incidents in the Philadelphia region have highlighted the concern around fentanyl exposure.

The two city residents arrested are Lincoln Payano Del Orbe Jr., 25, and Christina Mota Soto, 29. A Bronx, New York, man arrested is Wilbert Taveras Payano, 33.

Undercover detectives began July 11 by simply purchasing a 14.8-gram "sample" of what they believed to be heroin, with the intention of eventually buying a kilogram (1,000 grams), authorities allege.

That initial purchase was $1,000, and authorities realized after testing the sample that it was fentanyl, not heroin, according to authorities.

On July 24, the undercover detectives allegedly bought a kilo of fentanyl for $64,000 in the unnamed Cheltenham shopping center. At that time, Mota Soto was arrested.

Eventually, Payano Del Orbe and Taveras Payano were allegedly linked to the fentanyl.

All three are being held in Montgomery County Correctional Center on $1 million each. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 on charges of possesion with intent to deliver and dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities.

A young boy died from his injuries after he was ejected from a fleeing theft suspect’s vehicle during a crash in Tullytown, Bucks County Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

The ordeal began around noon after an unidentified suspect stole an item from a Walmart store at the Levittown Town Center, police said. The suspect entered a gold Jeep and fled on Route 13 southbound. A 2-year-old boy was also inside the vehicle.

The suspect continued driving on Route 13, ran a red light and crashed into two vehicles, investigators said. The impact caused the boy to be ejected from the suspect’s vehicle onto the roadway. The suspect then allegedly fled the scene on foot before being caught by responding police officers.

The child was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The suspect was also taken to the hospital for an evaluation but was not seriously injured. No one else was hurt in the crash. Police have not yet released the suspect’s identity or the specific charges he or she faces.

Route 13 is currently closed between Levittown Parkway and Haines Road as police continue to investigate. If you have any information on the accident, please call the Tullytown Police Department at 215-945-0999.

Hazmat crews responded to a leak at a South Philadelphia chemical plant Tuesday afternoon.

The leak occurred at the Ashland Chemical Plant on 2801 South Christopher Columbus Boulevard. Hazmat crews responded to the scene and are working to contain the situation. No injuries have been reported.

Columbus Boulevard is currently closed in both directions at the scene.

Outraged over the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria, international aid organization Oxfam is preparing to divert resources from developing nations like Nigeria and send them to Puerto Rico.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis has reached a level too great to ignore as 95 percent of residents go without power or water two weeks after the historic storm, Oxfam said.

“As the situation in Puerto Rico worsens and the federal government’s response continues to falter, Oxfam has decided to step in,” the organization said.

Oxfam typically does not track humanitarian efforts in the United States and other wealthy countries, instead focusing on regions with limited resources or fractured leadership. The organization operates in more than 90 countries across the globe and current missions include Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Mexico.

When asked if the organization, which does not accept federal money, would be taking resources away from those countries to aid Puerto Rico, an American territory, an Oxfam spokesperson said “absolutely.”

“We heard what Puerto Rican officials were saying and also our own staff and their families on the ground,” Scott Paul, Oxfam humanitarian policy lead, said. “It was very, very clear this was not an ordinary disaster response in the U.S.”

Much of the island’s countryside continues to struggle for basic necessities, such as food, water and cash. On Sunday, FEMA administrator Brock Long called relief efforts the “most logistically challenging event that the United States has ever seen,” but added that “millions of meals and millions of litres of water” have been distributed to residents in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Last week, President Donald Trump temporarily lifted, for 10 days, the Jones Act, a World War II-era provision that requires goods shipped between American ports to be transported on vessels that are built, owned and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Elected officials, including several in the Philadelphia region, have called for that exemption to be extended for one full year.

“The president has the capacity to enable FEMA to spend more money and eliminate cost-sharing,” Paul said. “Puerto Rico doesn’t have the money to help.”

Trump visited Puerto Rico Tuesday for the first time since Hurricane Maria wiped out the island’s electrical grid and left all of its inhabitants in total darkness. He praised the federal government’s response and denounced critics as “politically motivated ingrates.”

"In Texas and in Florida, we get an A-plus. And I'll tell you what, I think we've done just as good in Puerto Rico, and it's actually a much tougher situation,” he said.

But Oxfam, which deployed its first response team Monday ahead of the president’s visit, countered that Puerto Ricans were already vulnerable following an 11-year recession and $74 million debt. Unlike residents on the mainland, which have more money and resources readily available to them, Puerto Ricans were unable to adequately prepare for the devastation that hit on Sept. 20.

“We need the federal government’s leadership and their leadership needs to match the skill and courage our emergency response are showing,” Paul said.

Oxfam will focus on ensuring residents have access to water, sanitation and hygiene. The teams will also address food scarcity and make sure Puerto Ricans have money to purchase whatever they need.

This is not the first time the organization has stepped in to help after an American natural disaster. In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Oxfam worked closely with local civil organizations, faith-based groups and anti-poverty watchdogs.

The population in Puerto Rico, Paul said, closely mirrors the devastation that nearly wiped out New Orleans’ Ninth Ward in 2005.

On Tuesday, Trump also drew comparisons to New Orleans, highlighting Puerto Rico's relatively low death toll compared with "a real catastrophe like Katrina. "

He pledged an all-out effort to help the island but added: "Now I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico. And that's fine. We've saved a lot of lives."

Fans around the world are mourning legendary musician Tom Petty after his death Monday. NBC10's Brandon Hudson discusses his life and legacy with fans from our area as well as a local radio station.

A Delaware man hoping to catch fish caught something far worse while on the Delaware Bay.

Floyd Morton was fishing near Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware Friday. After casting his net in the water, he began feeling a strange gnawing sensation below his knees.

“My legs were on fire,” Morton said. “I was taking as much Benadryl as I could.”

Morton soon discovered the sensation he felt was a tiny parasite burrowing underneath his skin. An itchy and painful rash known as cercarial dermatitis, or “Swimmer’s Itch,” formed on his right leg and foot.

“You can still see it kind of oozes a little bit,” Morton said.

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Swimmer’s Itch is caused by a waterfowl parasite that comes from small mud snails found in bays all over the Atlantic coast. If the parasite comes into contact with a host, it burrows into its skin, causing an allergic reaction.

“It’s more of a bay thing,” said Dr. Patrick Gaffney, a professor at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, & Environment. “The mud snails are not out on the ocean coast. This particular mud snail can carry up to ten or twelve different parasite species. Only one of those is a problem for humans. That’s the one that this guy presumably got.”

Morton has gotten Swimmer’s Itch before and experts say it gets worse every time you catch it. Fortunately for Morton, while the rash is painful and annoying, it’s not life-threatening.

Signs were put up at Cape Henlopen State Park warning swimmers about the parasite. That hasn’t kept them out of the water however.  Still, Dr. Gaffney says the parasite shouldn’t stop people from swimming in the Delaware Bay. While the parasite is a particularly nasty one, he believes Morton was just unlucky and that most people swimming in that area wouldn’t have gotten the rash.

Morton, who says it took him several days just to be able to put a boot on his foot, won’t go back to the bay anytime soon however.

“Just from experience when I see these snails in the snail beds and stuff like that I’m just gonna stay out of the water,” Morton said.

To learn more about Swimmer’s Itch, including symptoms and treatment, click here.

Harrowing new body camera video from the Las Vegas police shows law enforcement response to Sunday night's mass shooting.

WARNING: Some viewers may find this footage disturbing. Harrowing new body camera video from the Las Vegas police shows the law enforcement response to Sunday night's mass shooting. 

Here are the top news stories you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY 

Thief Leaves Son to Die on Road as He Flees Crash: A suspect in a theft at a Bucks County Walmart stepped over his 2-year-old son's body and left him to die on the road as he fled the scene of a crash in Tullytown Tuesday afternoon, according to police. The ordeal began shortly after noon at a Walmart store at the Levittown Town Center. Christopher Kuhn, 27, of Hamilton, New Jersey, allegedly took $228 worth of merchandise and then left the store without paying as security personnel tried to detain him. Kuhn was holding his 2-year-old son in his arms as he left the store and Tullytown Police were called to the scene, according to a probable cause affidavit. Kuhn drove away in his jeep with his son inside before officers arrived. A witness told police Kuhn had let the boy climb into the SUV while he covered the jeep's license plate with a sweatshirt. The witness also said the boy climbed into the rear driver's side of the jeep but Kuhn never secured him into a child safety seat. Despite not being chased, Kuhn ran a red light on Route 13 and crashed into two vehicles, investigators said. The impact caused the jeep to roll over several times and the boy was thrown from the vehicle onto the roadway. According to the affidavit, Kuhn ran away on foot after the crash, pausing to look at his son on the roadway before fleeing. "The suspect then stepped over the child who was laying in the roadway and fled the scene," Tullytown Police Chief Daniel Doyle said. "Officers apprehended him a short distance from the crash."

• MORE ON THE CRASH
  

WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Drug Bust Nets Enough Fentanyl to 'Kill Half the Population of Montgomery County': A kilogram of fentanyl seized by law enforcement agencies at a non-descript shopping center in Cheltenham Township this summer was enough of the deadly synthetic opioid to "kill half the population of Montgomery County.” More than 800,000 people live in Philadelphia's most populous suburban county. "We're the third-largest county in the state and this amount of fentanyl is that deadly," county District Attorney Kevin Steele said of the July purchase announced Tuesday. After undercover detectives made the $64,000 buy July 24, they were able to follow the purchase back to a dealer in Bronx. Three suspects, including a man and woman from Philadelphia, have been arrested for the illegal fentanyl. "Given that 2 to 3 milligrams — five or six grains of fentanyl — can be fatal, this one kilo contained anywhere between 333,000 and 500,000 fatal doses," Steele said. "This seizure without a doubt saved many lives.

• MORE ON THE SEIZURE
  

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Wednesday is also expected to be sunny and warmer with temperatures in the 80s. Thursday and Friday are also expected to see 80 degree temperatures. The sun is expected to stick around through the weekend with temperatures back in the 70s. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

Woman Beats Boyfriend to Death with Frying Pan: A New Jersey woman accused of using two metal frying pans to fatally beat her boyfriend at a convenience store has been charged with murder. Camden County prosecutors say federal marshals arrested Maleia Cole on Monday  in Camden, two days after the charge was filed. It wasn't known Tuesday if the 33-year-old Camden resident has retained an attorney who could comment on the accusations. Prosecutors say the attack occurred Sept. 2 in Woodlynne. Police found 35-year-old Jason Lewis bleeding from head and facial injuries. They say Lewis told them Cole — who lives near the store — had followed him across the street and into the store while beating him repeatedly with the pans. Lewis was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery. He died from his injuries on Sept. 26. Authorities haven't said what spurred the attack.

• MORE ON THE BEATING
  

AROUND THE WORLD

Girlfriend of Vegas Gunman Returns to US: The girlfriend of the man who opened fire on concertgoers in Las Vegas, killing dozens and wounding hundreds more, arrived in Los Angeles Tuesday night as the investigation into the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history is underway. Marilou Danley, 62, landed at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from the Philippines and was escorted by FBI agents, multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News. It was not immediately clear where she was being taken. Danley is the girlfriend of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, who unleashed gunfire on attendees of the Route 91 Harvest Festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 500 were wounded in the attack. Paddock killed himself before police reached his hotel room. Danley, considered a "person of interest" in the case, was out of the country in Asia at the time of the shooting, having traveled to Hong Kong and Manila in the days before Paddock's attack. While Danley was away, Paddock wired $100,000 to an account in the Philippines, according to senior law enforcement officials. It was not clear who or what exactly the money was for.

• MORE ON THE GIRLFRIEND'S RETURN
  

That's what you need to know to Catch Up Quickly, but we've got more stories worthy of your time. Click here to check them out. 

Things are slowly getting back to normal in Las Vegas ahead of President Donald Trump's visit. Las Vegas Boulevard by the Mandalay Bay is back open, but where the concert was is still closed. NBC10's Matt DeLucia has more on the president's visit and the vigils happening in the area.

A New Jersey woman is among the more than 500 wounded in the Las Vegas mass shooting in which 59 people were also killed, family members say on social media. 

Jenna DeCandio of Jamesburg, New Jersey, was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night when she was shot in the hip and pelvis area, according to family member Jill Pasternak DeCandio, who was with DeCandio at the concert but not injured. 

By Monday night, DeCandio was out of surgery at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. The nurse told the family that the bullet missed her stomach, bowels, intestine, vital organs and arteries, "and for that we are truly thankful," Pasternak DeCandio said on Facebook. 

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed to NJ.com that a woman by DeCandio's name remained hospitalized Monday night. 

Her co-workers at Shima Seiki USA, Inc. in Monroe told News 4 Tuesday that she started working there in July after graduating from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. They declined to comment further. 

More than 22,000 people were attending the country music concert on the Las Vegas strip when 40- to 50-round bursts of automatic weapons fire rained down on them from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino hotel. Authorities say 59 people died and 527 others were injured in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. 

The gunman, identified as Stephen Craig Paddock, a 64-year-old retired accountant from Mesquite, Nevada, killed himself before officers stormed Room 135 in the gold-colored glass skyscraper.

A school district looking to calm fears of hazardous materials in the air due to the removal of asbestos closed a pair of South Jersey schools for a second day Wednesday as crews tested the air.

The Pinelands Regional School District posted a message to its website about the closures of Pinelands Regional High School and Junior High School “to assure the safety of staff and students.”

Concerns of hazardous dust getting into the air due to a construction project at the high school were raised to the school board Monday night, Acting Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Stevenson said in a news release Tuesday.

Crews have been replacing asbestos roofing and ceiling tiles from the high school and testing levels of the hazardous dust, according to posts on the district's health and safety page. 

The district's environmental consultant, TTI Environmental, has been conducting tests “to verify no asbestos or harmful VOCs exist in the building.”

Previous tests conducted over the summer showed no harmful levels of asbestos or harmful materials in the building, the district said.

The junior and senior high schools sit across from each other along Nugentown Road in Little Egg Harbor Township.

The district would still supply transportation to vocational students and planned to resume athletic events but would limit access to the locker rooms and outdoor fields.

Asbestos is a fibrous product that was popularly used as insulation and fire protection for decades. It can cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other ailments, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

More than 100 schools in the Philadelphia area are encouraging students to walk or bike to and from their classes. Sean Sweeney, the principal of Clara Barton Elementary, says, "It's better for the environment. It's better for everyone's overall health."

An underground electrical fire sent smoke billowing into the air as emergency crews brought traffic to a halt on Center City streets Wednesday morning.

The fire broke out shortly before 8:15 a.m. sending heavy smoke and flames out of manholes and grates in the area of Will’s Eye Hospital at 9th and Walnut streets, Philadelphia police said. After more than an hour, smoke continued to pour into the air.

Expect traffic troubles in the area as police blocked Walnut, Locust, 8th and 9th streets to vehicles and pedestrians, police said.

PECO crews initially responded to an underground cable issue around 7:15 a.m., the utility said. While working to isolate the issue, a cable overheated.

The area includes theaters, medical buildings and restaurants. Videos on social media showed thick smoke billowing into the air.

The fire knocked power out to about 73 customers, PECO said.

The Philadelphia Music Alliance inducted nine new members to their Walk of Fame Wednesday afternoon.

A group of women headline the 2017 class with Jill Scott, sister Sledge and Labelle getting recognition.

The ceremony took place in front of the Kimmel Center followed by a celebratory evening gala at the Fillmore Philadelphia.

The Walk of Fame along South Broad Street was created in 1986 by the PMA, a non-profit organization focused on saving and remembering Philadelphia’s music history while supporting current musicians in our area.

Inductees include:

Jill Scott – R&B singer-songwriter, model, poet, and actress

Sister Sledge – R&B music group

Labelle (Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx) – Female Doo-Wop music group

McFadden & Whitehead – R&B Recording duo

Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Gospel singer, songwriter and guitarist

The Soul Survivors – Soul and R&B group

Chris Schwartz & Joe Nicolo (Ruffhouse Records) – Hip-Hop and R&B record label founded in 1989

Bob Pantano – Longtime radio host of 98.1 WOGL “Saturday Night Dance Party”

Pantano will also be honored with the 2017 Broadcaster Award, and Anne Ewers with the Platinum Award.

Wednesday marks the first time in over two years that the PMA will host the evening gala to honor its newest inductees.

“Celebrating this tremendous array of legendary talent during a gala event at the prestigious Fillmore reinforces our level of importance to the music and business communities of Philadelphia,” PMA Board Chairman Alan Rubens said.

“This enables us to enhance our mission of honoring the past and helping to support the future of the vast musical talent that continues to come out of our city,” Rubens said.

The cock-and-squeeze revolver days of the 1970s and early 1980s were on the wane just as the crack cocaine epidemic reached its height in the early 1990s.

These were bloody, deadly days for Philadelphia, and many other American cities.

By 1993, some trauma surgeons at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania began thinking of new ways to treat gunshot victims.

"The weaponry changed dramatically to high muzzle velocity and not just single shot but multi-shot weapons came into the ethos of American violence," one of those doctors, Michael Rotondo, said. "It changed how police responded and by necessity, how we began to treat those wounds."

Rotondo co-authored a study on the changing approach to treating gunshot wounds at HUP and coined a phrase that reached trauma bays around the world, "damage control surgery."

The strategy remains a pillar of gunshot treatment and, in tandem with techniques of resuscitation developed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has expanded the definition of what are known as "preventable deaths" of gunshot victims.

The deadly streets and trauma centers of Philadelphia served as a proving ground, though Rotondo is quick to point out that doctors were trying similar approaches in places like Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta and Los Angeles as well.

Surgeons say more victims are being saved now than would have been before the strategy first implemented in Philadelphia in the early 1990s.

"It started in Philadelphia and now is in a lot of trauma centers around the country and around the world," Dr. John Porter, head of trauma surgery at Cooper University Health Care, said. "It's about not fixing every thing in the beginning. Now we go in and stop the bleeding, and then go in and fix the other stuff."

Porter, who was a fellow at Penn during Rotondo's tenure, said damage control surgery was as revolutionary as it is simple.

"The thing that causes most deaths in gunshot wounds is bleeding," Porter said, so the most important initial task: Stop the bleeding.

Prior to the damage control strategy, surgeons often would try fixing every injury associated with a bullet wound in one phase.

Damage control, Rotondo said, puts stages in place.

Stage 1: Stop hemorrhaging and control contamination from intestinal injuries.

Stage 2: Resuscitate the patient's fluid levels and identify all injuries.

Stage 3: Re-operate to repair all injuries incurred by the bullet wounds.

Damage control led to a dramatic decrease in mortality for gunshot victims who fell into certain preventable death categories.

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"Before, for patients with multiple solid organ injuries, their mortality rate was in excess of 90 percent," Rotondo said. "With the change, we saw mortality rates drop into the 10-to-15 percent range. That was a huge drop."

For surgeons like Dr. Marcin Jankowski, the medical director of trauma at Hahnemann University Hospital, stopping blood loss at the onset of treatment is second nature now.

He and Porter are among trauma unit chiefs who are involved in a new revolution in Philadelphia, a public health campaign appropriately called Stop the Bleed. It's a nationwide initiative organized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Doctors are educating certain segments of the public as well as first responders like police officers in how to apply a tourniquet. In the current phase of the campaign, teachers and students in public and private schools are being trained.

"The focus is on limiting the amount of time the patient spends in the pre-hospital phase of care, and how treatment during that time can help tremendously," Jankowski said.

It's the newest sign that Philadelphia remains on the frontier of trauma care.

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All the efforts since Rotondo and his colleagues took a different approach 24 years ago have been about increasing the number of what are known as "salvageable" patients. 

As is the case in some events like the Las Vegas massacre Sunday, where a high-velocity, automatic assault rifle is used, as many as 50 people died on the scene.

For hundreds of others, the approaches developed over the last three decades increased their chances in the hours and days after.

The complications for many victims of such attacks may lead to months and months of treatment, Rotondo said. 

But just like when they started damage control surgery, that's never the point.

"We were saying, 'At least we have alive patients,'" he said.

Just months after celebrating the arrival of its snow leopards, a South Jersey zoo is mourning one of the cubs.

Zara, one of two female snow leopard cubs born at the Cape May County Zoo in May, died Monday from an apparent infection, the zoo said in a statement.

Zara became “acutely ill on Friday and despite medical intervention and treatments, her health continued to deteriorate through the weekend,” zoo associate veterinarian Dr. Alexander Ernst said.

Zara died quietly after being transferred to Northstar Veterinary Hospital Monday for an MRI and neurological tests, the zoo said.

“Zara’s clinical signs, and MRI suggested she had a severe infectious encephalitis,” Ernst said. “Results are still pending that will identify the exact infectious agent. She was only four months old and still had an immature immune system which is why the infection acted so quickly and aggressively in her case.”

The Cape May Court House zoo unveiled Zara (meaning princess) and her sister, Ahana – both named as part of a contest – back in July. The cubs were born as part of a national program to help save the vulnerable species native to parts of Central Asia.

In the aftermath of Zara’s death, the zoo would keep an extra eye on Ahana and their mother Tysa.

NBC10's Matt DeLucia spoke to Shawn Rawl, a former Ocean County resident, about how he tried to help during the Las Vegas mass shooting.