Lion escape investigation to focus on fence failure, Taronga Zoo says

CCTV footage confirmed the lions were inside their exhibit overnight.

A zoo spokesperson said all people on the site during the incident had been moved to safe zones. The dozens of families sleeping in tents near the lion enclosure, as part of the Roar and Snore program, had been told to abandon their belongings and run away from the immediate threat.

The Perri family leave the zoo on Wednesday morning after their evacuation.Credit:Brook Mitchell

Sydney couple Dominique and Magnus Perri and their children, Lucas and Oliver, heard the lions roaring about 4am. Two hours later, zoo staff entered their tent.

“They said: ‘This is a code one, get out of your tent and run, come now and leave your belongings’,” Magnus said as the family left the zoo on Wednesday.

“We had to run to this building, it was only 50 or 70 metres. They counted us, then locked the door.”

The staff had initially thought the radio call was a drill, he said.

The empty lion exhibit on Wednesday.Credit:

“They told us they have this sort of training every now and then, but then we heard on the radio … that something was out there, and they said, ‘it’s the lions’.”

Born last year and feted as the zoo’s first litter in 18 years, the lion cubs weighed up to 95 kilograms on their first birthday in August.

Fully grown male lions such as Ato are up to three metres long and weigh up to 150 kilograms.

NSW Police were called and officers attended the scene, but confirmed the zoo was “managing the situation on its own”.

Stills taken above Sydney’s Taronga Zoo on Wednesday.Credit:Nine

This is the second code one declared by the zoo in almost two years. In January 2021, a contractor turned up at Taronga just before 6am to find a chimpanzee squatting beyond the perimeter of its enclosure also in the zoo’s African savannah section.

The zoo went into lockdown and the emergency response unit was hailed, but the chimp ended the overnight adventure by wandering back into the enclosure of its own accord.

Loading

In 2020, zookeeper Jennifer Brown was airlifted from Nowra’s Shoalhaven Zoo after she was mauled by two lions. Brown had entered their enclosure for a routine clean.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.