Safety standards, whether it is in zoos, animal parks, or circuses is always focused on the fact that no animal can escape. Unfortunately sometimes these safety measures aren’t as successful as they should be and dangerous animals can escape. Here are run away stories of 10 dangerous animals, some with a better ending than others…
10/ Eagle
In 1965, a royal eagle named Goldie managed to escape from London Zoo. During its 12 day escape, the bird became a nation “celebrity“. The zoo received many calls and letters from people around the country giving employees advice on how to capture the eagle.
After numerous capture attempts, the second zookeeper managed to successfully catch the bird by luring it with a dead rabbit attached to a rope. Once Goldie appeared the zookeeper approached the bird gently and they caught it with his bare hands!
During its time on the run, the eagle only attacked a duck in the garden of the American Ambassador in the UK and two terriers. Not long after the bird managed to escape for a second time however this time he was on the loose for only four days.
9/ Takin
Takins are an Asian animals generally found in large mountain ranges at altitudes of at least 1500 m. As a result of over hunting, these animals are becoming increasingly few and far between in the wild.
A takin weighing 363 kg managed to escape from a zoo in 2018. One morning while a vet had come to do a routine inspection, the animal started to charge repeatedly at the enclosure until it gave way.
While it escaped, the animal injured two employees (although not severely) and was on the run for an hour before it was sedated and returned to its enclosure.
8/ Python
This situation didn’t finish as well as the two previous scenarios mentioned above. In 2013 a python managed to get loose from a Canadian animal farm. The snake, which measured more than four metres, sneaked into the ventilation system of the house of the animal farm owner and entered into the child’s bedroom. Two children were staying at the house as they were having a friends sleepover.
It wasn’t until the following morning that the dad, and owner of the animal farm, entered the bedroom to find the two children dead. They had both been strangled by the python.
7/ Crocodiles
In 2017 around a dozen crocodiles managed to escape from a Thailand zoo during heavy flooding. How did they managed to get loose? After all they are pretty slow creatures and aren’t very discrete. However the heavy rainfall and flooding came to their aide.
While locals were trying to protect themselves from the flooding they were also faced with the threat of a dozen escaped crocodiles…
In summery, there were 18 deaths which doesn’t include those lost due to the heavy flooding.
