1 What Happened?
Taronga Zoo in Sydney was hosting a popular overnight camping event called “roar and snore,” where families stayed at the zoo in tents. The zoo houses 4,000 animals on the promises, and that night five animals escaped—a male lion and four cubs. Armed police arrived at the zoo at 7 am.
2 Panic At the Zoo
According to campers, the zoo employees panicked when they realized the lions were wandering around close to where people were sleeping unguarded in tents. “The keepers came running down the tent area saying that there was a code one — ‘get out of your tent; leave your belongings behind,'” Perri, from Sydney, said.
3 “They’re Still Outside”
The campers were understandably confused by what was happening and even suspected it might be a stunt as part of the overnight package. “The guides had their radios on and we heard them. They said ‘they’re still outside’, so we realized something was outside, and they said it’s the lions, so we’re like ‘oh scary,'” Perri said. “We were a bit surprised [and thought] is this part of the action package?”
4 Code One
A “code one”—which means dangerous animal—alert was sent out at 6.30 am when one of the zoo employees saw the lions strolling approximately 50 meters away from the campers. Four of the lions allowed themselves to be “calmly” walked back into their enclosure, but one of the cubs had to be tranquilized. “This is a significant incident and a full review is under way to confirm exactly how the lions were able to exit their main exhibit,” says the zoo’s executive director Simon Duffy.