Amazing Zoo Escapes

Zoos are some of the few places on Earth where you can see wild animals up close without the fear of being mauled, trampled, or eaten. That sense of safety tends to come from a thick layer of glass or concrete separating you from the animals. But sometimes, even the best security measures aren’t enough to keep freedom-loving animals from breaking out! From genius ape escape artists to some truly nail-biting breakouts that put zookeepers’ abilities to the ultimate test, let’s check out some wild animals that escaped from the zoo.

Ken Allen Orangutan, The "Hairy Houdini"

In the 1980s, a series of escapes at San Diego Zoo’s orangutan enclosure left the zookeepers scrambling for a solution. But try as they might, they were repeatedly outsmarted by one individual named Ken Allen. That big, brainy ape had an extremely impressive gift for escaping his enclosure, which featured steep rock walls designed to be impossible to climb up and over.

Yet, on several occasions, Ken was found calmly wandering the public pathways of the zoo, strolling along like a regular visitor, staring curiously into the other animal enclosures. On one occasion, Ken was found in front of another ape enclosure, throwing stones at a fellow orangutan named Otis, who presumably must’ve stolen Ken’s bananas at some point.

When zookeepers guided Ken back to his enclosure, he usually came willingly, as it seemed he was already planning his next escape. As his break-outs continued, Ken was even observed teaching other orangutans his tricks. In August 1985, he gave a crowbar that’d been left behind by workers to a female orangutan sharing his enclosure, who used it to pry open a window, letting Ken escape.

Not long after that, the other orangutans in Ken’s enclosure began orchestrating independent escapes of their own, having learned from the best. After those various break-outs, the zoo staff did everything they could to ensure Ken’s enclosure was escape-proof, but he still managed to find his way out when his keepers weren’t looking. The escapes finally began slowing down after the zoo brought in rock-climbing experts to analyze the exhibit’s walls for any finger-holds Ken might be using.

After having those cracks and bumps smoothed out, only a few more escape attempts occurred, and they came to a mostly uninterrupted end after an electric fence was installed around the top of the enclosure. Ken’s escapes made him a very popular attraction at the zoo, to such an extent that T-Shirts were made featuring his face, and a song about him was released in 1985. Ken passed away in 2000, but he would always be remembered at San Diego Zoo by his nickname Hairy Houdini.

Escaped Penguin Ends Up In Lion's Den

In 2011, an African Penguin at the Münster Zoo in Germany went on an adventure that brought it closer to serious peril than it ever realized. Perhaps inspired by the penguins of Madagascar, the little bird who was only 3 months old somehow managed to escape the exhibit containing the rest of her buddies. She was found somewhere she definitely shouldn’t have been: waddling along the partially-frozen moat surrounding the lion exhibit.

Blissfully unaware that large predatory felines were just a short swim away from her position, the penguin meandered happily for hours before zookeepers lured her back to safety with some tasty herrings. Thankfully, the lions had been huddled inside their shelter for warmth at the time the little visitor came along, but if they hadn’t it could’ve easily been iced penguin on the dinner menu.

Virginia, The Wolf

At one point in the late 1970s, Griffith Park in Los Angeles home to the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory also became home to something much less tourist-friendly. That new presence was an escapee from the Los Angeles Zoo, located along the park’s north-eastern edge. The escapee in question was a wolf named Virginia, no relation to the 20th century English novelist Virginia Woolf.

The cunning canine’s unusually-advanced climbing skills saw it clambering up trees in its enclosure, along the branches and over the fences. The zoo staff had previously assumed that kind of escape was impossible from wolves, so they hadn’t felt the need to prepare for it. But once they were proven wrong, it was already too late, Virginia had already escaped.

Virginia was recaptured, but escaped again several times by figuring out various new ways to scale the chain-link fences surrounding her enclosure. Her final escape was in 1979, after which she was reportedly never recaptured. In the period afterwards, it’s possible hikers in Griffith park may have spotted what they assumed to be a coyote, but was in reality a much deadlier predator a wolf!

But there were no recorded attacks, so it seems wherever she went, Virginia kept herself to herself. Hopefully, she lived a happy life in Griffith Park, or wherever she chose to go after her final escape. Who knows maybe she even made her way over to Hollywood, for a starring role or two?

Fugitive Capybaras

In 2016, two new furry faces arrived at High Park Zoo in Toronto but quickly decided their new home wasn’t up to scratch. Within a day of moving in, the pair of capybaras which are the largest rodents in the world escaped. The male and female evaded capture for over a month, hiding out at a nearby pond together.

When they were finally captured and returned, the female was pregnant, suggesting their little vacation had been filled with capybara romance. With three baby capybaras born soon after their return, the parents were seemingly too busy with kid duties to consider another escape attempt. They now appear happy in their new home, but their summer of love on-the-lamb will surely remain in their memories forever.

The Long Island Monkey Escape

Back in the 1930s, a collector of exotic animals named Frank Buck ran a small, roadside zoo on Long Island, New York. Among his animals were various species of big cats, and a large collection of rhesus monkeys. 570 rhesus monkeys, to be exact, all living on a little island in the center of a manmade lake. The island was accessed via a small bridge that could be lowered when the monkeys needed cleaning.

One morning in October 1935, the monkeys were being hand-bathed by a worker, when disaster struck. The worker on that occasion had forgotten to lift the bridge back up after he stepped onto the island! As the realization dawned on him, he turned to see a long line of monkeys rapidly departing the island in single-file.

By the time he was able to raise the bridge, 172 of the furry fiends had already escaped out into the woods behind the zoo. As soon as the worker shared word of his blunder with his colleagues, the big search began. A few hours after the escape, 50 of the monkeys were found playing on some nearby train tracks, having forced an approaching train to make an emergency stop. 30 more monkeys were recovered the first night, when they returned to the zoo of their own accord after the day’s adventure.

In the weeks that followed, monkey sightings were reported from two surrounding counties, with homeowners finding them playing in their yards, and fruit stand owners being hassled for their wares. Eventually, all the escaped monkeys were returned to the park, after the owner promised a free season pass to anyone who caught and returned a monkey.

Kangaroo Escapes With Help Of Boar And Fox

Most people are familiar with stories of human prison inmates working together to plan a jailbreak, but less common are tales of animals collaborating on an escape. One such instance occurred in 2012 at Hunsrück Wildlife Protection Park in Germany, though the animals involved seemed to have no idea they were helping one another.

The escape began when three kangaroos named Skippy, Jack and Mick scrambled through a hole, recently dug by a fox, under their enclosure’s fence. Then, once they reached the exterior fence of the park, they were lucky enough to find another hole, only that one investigations later revealed, had been dug by a wild boar!

While one of the kangaroos became stuck in the first hole, the other two crawled through the second, out to freedom. It took several days for the kangaroos to be recovered, but the fox and boar were never able to be reached for further questioning regarding the escape.

Wild Tiger Breaks Into The Zoo

Stories of zoo animals going where they’re not supposed to usually involve an animal escaping their enclosure. But in 2013, a wild tiger living in the woods near Nandankanan Zoological Park in India made the opposite approach: he broke into the zoo. Attracted by the irresistible scent of the females inside, the wild male was found attempting to enter the tiger enclosure housing his love interest.

The zookeepers let him in, and he stayed there for a month, before escaping by jumping the 18 ft tall fence, much to the keepers’ surprise. While the exact reasons for his lost interest are unclear, a few weeks after his initial escape, he did return. Only, this time, he had his eyes on someone else. He chose a new partner, mated with her, and the two had cubs together. Hopefully his first girlfriend wasn’t too jealous.

Lion Escapes From Florida Zoo

In 1997, the lion enclosure at Jungleland Zoo in Kissimmee, Florida was badly damaged by heavy rains. While workers were repairing it, a two and a half year old lioness named Nala managed to sneak out, undetected. After she was noticed to be missing, reported sightings soon begun springing up.

With a lion on the loose, the zoo closed, and locals of the area were urged to stay indoors, as sightings were reported in the swamplands surrounding the zoo. Despite those sightings outside the zoo, it seemed she’d found a way to slip in and out, as she was also seen several times attempting to get back into her enclosure.

Unfortunately, though, as soon as keepers approached to let her back in, she’d flee, leaving them back at square one. Eventually, though, after two days of roaming the area, which was dangerously close to Disney World and other tourist hotspots, Nala was safely located, tranquilized, and recaptured.

Belfast Escaped Lion

A similar, albeit a little scarier, incident took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1977. While it may not have escaped from a zoo, an escaped circus lion caused just as much of a fright when it was found wandering the city streets. In fact, one unfortunate woman who was out in her garden spotted the beefy male leaping over her garden wall and fainted at the unlikely sight!

Luckily, the lion was cornered by police and circus workers and recaptured within half an hour of its escape, and no one was harmed. Had it been feeding time, the outcome might not have been so pleasant.

Spider Monkeys Escape Indiana Zoo

In 1995, a spider monkey and her baby went on a daring mission across land and water in an attempt to break free from Columbian Park Zoo in Indiana. The monkey business began when a group of young human troublemakers stole a paddle boat from the nearby lagoon and dumped it in the moat surrounding the small island the spider monkeys occupied.

It appeared the boat then drifted over to the monkeys’ side of the moat, at which point the mother and child had leaped in. Their momentum caused the boat to drift back out to the other side, where they could scale the wall and escape the exhibit. From there, it was plain sailing.

With her baby clinging tightly to her, the mother went on quite the adventure. Local newspapers reported of how she’d been seen swinging along power lines and traffic lights along the busy surrounding roads. Passing traffic slowed as drivers gawked in confusion at the unusual visitors. The monkeys were evicted from their new hanging spot later that afternoon, with the help of a few well-aimed tranquilizer darts, and were returned home safely.

Slippery The Sea Lion

In June 1958, Slippery the sea lion escaped from a marine mammal park in Ontario, Canada, and went on the adventure of a lifetime. No one knew for sure how he got out, but some suggested he might’ve slipped through a pipe that fed his pool with water.

However he did it, Slippery made it out into a connecting river, and was soon sighted along riverbanks and under bridges, miles downstream. City officials were sent out to retrieve the sea lion, but Slippery lived up to his name and evaded capture numerous times.

That included one occasions where his would-be captors played sea lion sounds out of loudspeakers to attempt to lure him back. Unconvinced, or simply uninterested, Slippery simply swam away, and kept swimming until he’d crossed country lines all the way to the American side of Lake Erie, making headlines in Canada and the US.

He was captured there by a zookeeper from the nearby town of Toledo, Ohio, who brought him back at last to his home in Ontario. When the Ohio zookeeper who caught him drove Slippery back into town, more than 50,000 people turned out to welcome the now-famous escape artist home. They even commemorated the story with a statue!

Wildebeest Escape

In 2004, a group of wildebeest at a children’s zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana quite literally broke out, in spectacular fashion. While being moved into a barn for the winter, five of the powerful beasts who hail from the plains of Africa decided to take a different path. Diverting from the group, they smashed through a gate, obliterating it, before jumping over a 4 ft high fence.

They kept running, and soon found themselves roaming the city streets nearby, until they were recaptured and brought home. But while the wildebeest thankfully didn’t end up hurting any pedestrians with their fearsome horns, two of the animals broke their legs while on their city romp. Paired with the inherent danger of such dangerous animals being allowed to escape, the damage caused to their own wildebeests landed the zoo an $825 fine for insufficient safety measures.

Escaped Chimpanzee Leaps Onto Woman In Her Backyard

In the realm of horror movies, hanging laundry in the back yard crops up occasionally as a means of delivering scares. But a scare of a similar yet notably less supernatural kind took place in South Carolina back in 1992. While a 78 year old woman was hanging clothes to dry in her yard, she was suddenly knocked to the ground and rolled around by an escaped chimpanzee!

The chimpanzee had escaped from the nearby Hollywild Animal Park, and had found its way by chance to the woman’s home nearby. Thankfully, despite the terrifying strength those apes are capable of, the woman only sustained minor injuries before it left her alone and was recaptured.

Polar Bear Escape

As a zoo owner, a couple of capybaras temporarily getting loose, or even a spider monkey or two, is hardly the end of the world. But the last animal you ever want breaking free is a polar bear. Those deadly beasts reach up to 1,500lbs and 10ft tall when standing on their hind legs, so having one escape would be nothing short of a nightmare.

But in 1969 at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, not one, but seven polar bears were let loose after the deep moats surrounding their exhibit flooded. With the water level raised, the moat turned from an effective barrier into a direct-route to freedom, reaching high enough up the surrounding walls for the bears to scale over.

Luckily, that occurred during the night before guests arrived, but when staff turned up at 7am, you can probably imagine their horror when they found the 7 bears roaming the zoo. The bears had already laid waste to a refreshment stand near their exhibit, devouring the marshmallows, chips, and ice cream kept inside, and flinging the cash register around for good measure.

When approached, 5 of the polar bears seemingly feeling guilty for causing mischief swam straight back to their exhibit. Meanwhile, another polar bear was found investigating the grizzly bears, while the 7th was intercepted on its way to the zoo restaurant. Using car horns, sirens, and a few shotgun blasts into the air, the stragglers were rounded up and sent back home to their exhibit. Considering nobody was mauled, and no polar bears were harmed, crisis was averted very successfully indeed.

Chimp Escape

Stopping animals from escaping is a lot harder when they’re as smart as chimpanzees. That natural cleverness helped several chimps escape their tall-walled enclosure at Belfast Zoo back in 2019. When stormy weather knocked a large branch off a tree in their exhibit, it wasn’t long before a quick-witted natural leader put it to use as an escape ladder.

As soon as the chimp had propped it up against the wall, he and his brethren began climbing up it and attempting to make the jump up to freedom. Before the zoo officials were even aware something was afoot, several of the chimps had already made it up to the top of the wall.

Soon afterwards, one chimp was seen casually wandering the zoo, to the curiosity of some guests, and undoubtedly, sheer terror of others. When zookeepers finally approached, the apes made the smart decision of their own accord to return to their pals on the ground.

Another story of a chimp climbing to almost glory took place in 2016 at Yagiyama Zoological Park in Japan. The male chimp was on the loose for almost two hours after it disappeared from the park, but was finally tracked down or up at the top of an electricity pole, 800 ft away from the zoo’s perimeter.

Cha Cha the Chimp Leads Police on Chase After Zoo Escape by ABC News

It appeared the chimp had climbed a pylon close to the zoo, then sauntered along the electricity cables to the position he was spotted in. Unaware of the dangerously high electrical currents he was at risk of sustaining a shock from, the chimp refused to come down.

So, officials ascended in a cherry picker, and after attempts to bring him down peacefully failed, a tranquilizer dart made the decision to descend on the chimp’s behalf. He lost his grip and fell, but luckily workers were waiting at the bottom with a stretched-out blanket to ensure he had a soft landing. After a couple of groggy days while the tranquilizer wore off, the chimp was soon back to his old self hopefully, not planning any more shocking escapes.

Georgia Floods: Tbilisi Zoo Escape

In 2015, the city of Tbilisi in Georgia, Eastern Europe, was hit by devastating floods that caused total chaos across the city. The surging floodwater destroyed a great deal of property, including several enclosures at the city zoo. While some animals met their end in the flooding, others were set free to roam the flooded city, including lions, tigers, bears, wolves, hyenas, and a hippo, among many others.

The hippo in question was found roaming one of the city’s main streets, much to the alarm of locals who encountered him. But before he could inflict or meet any harm, he was led into a corner by a crowd and subdued with a tranquilizer gun. While the hippo was among several animals that could be saved, sadly, half of the zoo’s inhabitants were lost in the chaos of the flood.

Giraffe Escapes Zoo

You’d think, of all animals, it’d be pretty hard for a giraffe to escape a zoo. After all, being so tall, you’d assume someone would spot them making a break for it. Even so, a 7 month old giraffe at a zoo in Indiana managed to escape her enclosure in 2018.

While no one was quite sure how she managed it, the long-necked youngster was found frolicking in a staff parking lot near her enclosure. Luckily, the parking lot was surrounded by tall fencing, which kept her from escaping and made recapturing her a lot easier. But if she was that much of an escape artist at 7 months old, you can expect a long career of jailbreaks ahead.

That young giraffe from Indiana may have taken inspiration from another giraffe which escaped from the Rinaldo Orfeo Circus in Imola, Italy, in 2012. That long-necked jail-breaker made a run for it right through the streets of Imola, evading several attempts by Circus workers to catch it. As people soon learned, you don’t play a game of chicken with a giraffe because it won’t let a little obstacle like a human slow it down!

As vehicles swerved to avoid the galloping giant, its keepers struggled to keep up. Eventually, the XXL rampage was brought to a close by two tranquilizer darts, and the giraffe was returned to the circus. But the pictures prove the real circus could be found in the streets that day, in the form of a truly cartoonish escapade through the town of Imola.

Rhino Flees Safari

Sleeping on the job is never a good idea, but it’s a particularly dumb move to pull when you’re supposed to be supervising rhinos. That didn’t stop a security guard at Ramat Gan Safari in Israel falling asleep at work in 2015, with comically disastrous results. While snoozing, the guard failed to notice three rhino musketeers approaching the gate, and with no guard to close it, they simply slipped straight through.

It wasn’t long before other safari park workers, ones who happened to be awake spotted the rhinos and called for support. The safari park manager was soon at hand to deal with the situation, and was chasing after the horned jailbreakers.

rhinos by Dan Zinski

Realizing the situation was getting out of hand, the park workers eventually called the police for support. Soon, with the park entrance blocked off by police officers, the public was safe from the rampage. But there was still the teeny, tiny issue of getting the rhinos back to their enclosure. After some planning, the rhinos were rounded up in the parking lot and with workers clapping to get their attention lured safely back to their enclosure. Needless to say, the security guard responsible was fired.

I hope you were amazed at these wild animals that escaped from the zoo. Thanks for reading!