Alarm at Sydney Zoo: Five lions escaped

An alarm was sounded on Tuesday (1/11) at Zoo Taronga of Sydney, Australia where five lions they managed to escape for a while from their enclosure.

Zoo officials immediately activated a “Code One” alert and rushed visitors to the garden’s “Roar and Snore” overnight program to safety.

The alarm was raised when surveillance cameras showed a male lion, Atos, and four cubs roaming outside their fenced enclosure at 06:30 local time (21:30 Greek time yesterday, Tuesday), although they were still in an area that it is separated from the rest of the garden by a fence over 1.8 meters high.

How the guards put them back into the fenced area

Zookeepers used anesthetic and moved one young lion back to their enclosure in the garden, while the other four made their way back of their own accord.

The zoo, as reported by the Athens News Agency, announced that its emergency response was activated in less than 10 minutes after the lions escaped from their enclosure. The lions were confirmed to have returned to their enclosure by 09:00 am, local media reported.

There were no injuries to people or animals and the zoo opened as normal.

“The zoo has very strict security protocols for incidents of this nature and there was immediate action,” Taronga Zoo chief executive Simon Duffy told a news conference.

Police were called to the zoo and staff rushed to get the ‘Roar and Snore’ guests to safety.

“They came running into the tent area saying ‘it’s a Code One, get out of your tent and run, come now and leave your stuff,'” Magnus Perry, one of the visitors, told local media as he left with his family from the garden.

On display in Taronga Zoo’s lion enclosure are Ato and Maya and their five lion cubs – Harry and Luzuko and Malika, Zuri and Ayana. Maya and Ayana remained in their fenced area while the rest of the family went outside.

The zoo does not currently know how the lions managed to escape and an official investigation has been launched into the incident.