SYDNEY, Australia (WHDH)– Zoo guests were awoken early Wednesday when five lions escaped their enclosure in an Australian zoo.
At 4 a.m. Wednesday, one adult lion and four cubs had escaped their habitats, Taronga Zoo staff said.
The lions “were located outside of their main enclosure,” Executive Director Simon Duffy said. “The lions were observed in a small area adjacent to the main lion exhibit, where a 6 foot fence separated them from the rest of the zoo.”
Guests spending the night were woken up and ordered into safe zones.
“They came running around the tent area saying ‘There’s a Code 1, get out of your tent, leave your belongings behind, run, come with us!'” Magnus Perri, an overnight guest, said. “I thought it was a drill. They said we drill, We do this training every now and then.”
Zoo staff quickly returned the lions to their enclosures. Four of the lions calmly went back, and one of the cubs had to be tranquilized.
Guests were able to return to their tents once the lions returned to an enclosure.
The zoo determined that the fence surrounding the lions’ enclosure needed to be fixed, and the lions are in a different holding area while full investigation continues.
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