Thursday 10 November 2022 11:20 AM Taronga Zoo lion escape: Sydney zoo reveals the way five lions managed to get ... trends now

17 shares

37

View
comments

Taronga Zoo has finally revealed that a small gap in a fence was responsible for five lions sneakily escaping their enclosure last week. 

The Sydney zoo went into lockdown last Wednesday when male lion Ato and 16-month-old cubs Khari, Luzuko, Malike and Zuri got out of their enclosure, sparking a panicked emergency response. 

The lions were found in an area adjacent to the main exhibit and were safely returned to their exhibit before the zoo opened to the public for the day. 

Officials explained in a statement on Thursday afternoon that clamps used to join wire cables together had 'failed' which led to a cable to unravel and create a gap in the fence.

'Preliminary independent engineering advice has confirmed that swages (clamps that join wire cables together) failed, enabling a lacing cable that connects the fence mesh to a tension cable to unravel,' the statement read.

'The lions were then able to create and squeeze through a gap.'

The zoo's ongoing review into the incident discovered that the lions had been 'playing and interacting' with the fence for around 20 minutes before it was breached.

Adult male lion Ato led four cubs out of the enclosure while 'lioness Maya and one cub chose to remain in the exhibit'.

The pair were later called back into their dens by keepers.

An alarm was sounded at 6:40am after the lions squeezed through the gap and the zoo went into lockdown.     

Two of the cubs then breached a secondary fence.