ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Animal Escapes.

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
This has been in the news again with the recent Chimpanzee escape at Whipsnade and Bokito the Gorilla in Rotterdam. There must be others people know about too. A few examples to start off;

London Zoo- 'Goldie' the Eagle.(1950's?) On the loose for about ten days.

Chester. Nobby the Indian Elephant Bull- had to be shot.
Gloria, a female chimp, crossed the moat. was shot.
Puloh male Orangutan- got onto house roof- recaptured.

Causeway Safari Ireland. 3 male chimps. Shot.

Dudley- Gorilla (Bukhama/Bonzo) - inside service passage only.

Dartmoor WP. wolf?

Howletts- a Nilgai once escaped and landed on a passing car I believe.

Okehampton wildlife Park(?) Porcupines- became feral breeders in the immediate area for some years.

South Lakes- coatis as mentioned.
 
A vulture at Blackbrook escaped, and was recaptured.

Azara's agouti at Chester, in the miniature monkeys. They were then moved into mythical macaws.
 
edinburgh zoo 2 sealions got out many years ago, found swimming in the water of leith, another sealion escaped from longleat a few years ago managing to swim about 13 miles found in a lock in a town centre nearby. Many years ago i think a polar bear got out of its enclosure at whipsnade, found in a paint store, all colours of the rainbow.
 
Also ring-tailed lemurs and a rhino from South Lakes - see the South Lakes thread.
 
I've been in Chester Zoo when they've had some escapes.

Crimson-winged Parakeet
Some small bird in the old bird house (now closed), can't remember the species but visitors were shut in while the keepers tried to recapture it, unsucessfully if I remember.
Red-necked Wallaby
Hamadryas Baboon. She was a young female who escaped because she was being bullied, she managed to find a safe place at the top of a tree opposite the elephant enclosure. She was successfully darted and recaptured. Eventually she was sent to another collection.
 
Oh yes and when I was at Cotswold a couple of weeks ago there was a white-cheeked turaco flying around in a tree above the aviary. It seemed more interested in re-joining its companions inside that any thought of escape!
 
Chessington used to have a Violet Turaco that had got out flying round the zoo.Wasn`t aware that the Azares Agouti had escaped from M.Monkeys at Chester but did know that they lost 5 to a fox in their.As for South Lakes their was the Macaw that was shot dead by a youth with an air rifle flying over Barrow.
 
kiang said:
Many years ago i think a polar bear got out of its enclosure at whipsnade, found in a paint store, all colours of the rainbow.
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This has to be the best 'escape' story so far....:D:D

(I should think a Polar Bear on the loose is a frightening prospect though)
 
A quick search on google throws up quite a few reported escapes!

Juan, a male spectacled bear at Berlin Zoo, used a log as a raft to cross the moat around his enclosure, then tried to commandeer a bicycle before he has tranquilised. :D

The squirrel monkeys at London Zoo breached their enclosure earlier this year by leaping into a tree in neighbouring Regents Park.

A jaguar escaped at Dartmoor Zoo in October 2006, jumped on to the roof of the tiger enclosure and began fighting one of the animals. This was four days after the current owners had moved in. The zoo did not have a tranquiliser gun (!!!) and it was 17 hours (!!!) before a trained person arrived from West Midland Safari Park (wouldn't Paignton or Bristol have been closer???) to sedate it.

Maverick the eagle owl escaped from his enclosure at Edinburgh last December after the roof was blown off in a storm. He had to be rescued because he was being mobbed by the local birdlife.

On a more sad and serious note, Marwell had an escaped Amur leopard in 2003 which was tranquilised but unfortunately died.
 
Chris79 said:
On a more sad and serious note, Marwell had an escaped Amur leopard in 2003 which was tranquilised but unfortunately died.
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Yes, she somehow managed to squeeze through the space where the cage roof surrounded a large tree growing in the enclosure, and so climb the tree. Unfortunately after darting she fell badly and died as a result. They altered the roof design afterwards.

Two(or one?) Jaguar escaped at a Zoo in France a few years back by digging their way out. It happened while the zoo was open and tragically I believe they killed at least one child. I know they are regarded as just about the most lethal 'escapee' as they will always attack.
 
A Keeper at Bristol Zoo mentioned whilst doing a talk about the Red Pandas that the Pandas at Belfast had escaped.

I remember reading somewhere about the Wallabies escaping from Chester Zoo.

Dartmoor's Coati has escaped twice aswell. So have South Lakes. Plus Deer + wallaby from Whipsnade.

Prairie Marmots escaped at Twycross in the early days aswell.

Chimpanzees, Toucans, Black Bears, Elephants and Polar Bears have all escaped from London at one point aswell.
 
ZooMania said:
A Keeper at Bristol Zoo mentioned whilst doing a talk about the Red Pandas that the Pandas at Belfast had escaped.
I
Chimpanzees, Toucans, Black Bears, Elephants and Polar Bears have all escaped from London at one point aswell.
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Belfast lost a Colobus Monkey for several days- he was driven away by others in the group. I think he was exported later on...

Can you elaborate on any of the London escapes, especially the larger animals?
 
Chimpnzees - Mentioned in a book i have his name was Chollomly or something

Polar and Black Bears - Mentioned in the same book. Book was written by the zoos former vet, the bears escaped from the Mappin Terraces, in the 70's i think. I'll check for the date.

Elephants - My Aunt told me when i was a small child that when she was visiting London Zoo as a child, the elephnat escaped an she was forced into the Reptile House.

Whipsnades Cranes also escaped at one point.
 
You can add Paignton Zoo to the list of zoos that have had Red Pandas get out,also have seen a Black and White-ruufed lemur outside the zoo permitter fence at Paignton this year.
 
August 1975 a clouded leopard escaped from Howletts. They couldn't find any trace of it so assumed it would have soon died. However it was shot and killed by a farmer on 31 March 1976. It had survived in the wild for almost eight months, feeding on rabbits and lambs.
 
rather than just simple escapes, this thread may be more interesting for species that have actually established wild populations from zoo escapes. The following is mainly gleaned from Christopher Lever's "Naturalized Mammals of the World" (1985)...

Red-necked (Bennet's) wallaby: in the UK, from a private menagerie near Leek in Staffordshire, escaped in 1939 or 1940 (5 animals) and formed the population that survived until recently (or does still) in the Peak District National Park. A second colony that formed in Sussex was presumed to have originated from Leonardslee Park near Horsham.

Brush-tailed rock wallaby: in Hawaii, one pair escaped from a private menagerie in August 1916. The resulting population is still there today.

Grey kangaroo: in France, resulting from a bungled burglary attempt of a zoo (see the Grey Kangaroos In France thread)

Taiwan macaque: in Japan, established on Oshima after escaping from a zoo during WW2

Anubis baboon: in Spain, 60 baboons escaped from the Auto Safari Andaluz safari park in Cadiz in 1972. Forty were soon killed by hunters but the rest survived unnoticed until their resulting population was "rediscovered" in 1992!

Chinese water deer: in the UK, some escaped from Woburn during WW1, established themselves in the surrounding areas, and were a few years later supplemented by escapes from Whipsnade. Now common in the UK.

Reeve's muntjac: in the UK, established following escapes from Woburn and Whipsnade. Now common in the UK.

Indian muntjac: in the UK, established following escapes from Woburn and Whipsnade, but no longer occurring wild there

Himalayan tahr: in South Africa, in 1937 some (possibly a pair) escaped from the National Zoo in Pretoria and established a population on Table Mountain, where they still occur.

In the USA, Argentina, etc there are numerous large ranches that hold free-roaming ungulates, especially antelope species, and several of these have resulted in escaped animals forming wild populations

Indian palm squirrels: in Australia, in about 1942 some escaped from Taronga Zoo and established a population in the surounding area. They are no longer found wild there, but do still live wild around Perth Zoo, where they were deliberately released in 1898, and from where the Taronga ones were obtained.

Taiwan golden-backed squirrel: in Japan, escaped from a zoo on Oshima during WW2. By 1950 there was a population of 20,000.

Siberian chipmunks: established from escapes from captivity in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria

Black-tailed prairie dog: in the UK, "after a number escaped from a country park on the Isle of Wight in southern England when it closed down, they rapidly multiplied, yielding 250 - 400 specimens by the early 1990s. Attempts to snare them have largely failed, as they are very intelligent, and it is feared this New World interloper may overrun the entire island" (from Karl Shuker's Mysteries of Planet Earth, 1999)

Himalayan (Hodgson's) porcupine: in the UK, a pair escaped from the Pine Valley Wildlife Park, Devon, in 1969. Several were killed between 1971 and 1975. The population was either eliminated or died out.

African crested porcupine: in the UK, a pair escaped from their cage in the botanic gardens at Alton Towers, Staffordshire, in 1972. This species was likewise only found in the wild in the UK for a few years before either being eliminated or dying out.
 
animal escapes

The Collared Peccaries got out of their enclosure at Paignton a couple of years ago and visitors were held in buildings until they were rounded up. And you used to see a few Azure Winged Magpies flying about on the wrong side of the walk through aviary.
 
Yes I remember it on Central News.

In 1973 a female Great Indian Hornbill escaped from Chester Zoo and after a few days in the zoo she made her way to Peckforton Castle in Tarpoley, about 12 miles away. She was caught by the family who lived there and returned to the zoo.
 
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