the scariest moment in a zoo

F

foz

Well-Known Member
The threads just a bit of fun, inspired by the which animals would you leats want to escape and the story about the komodo dragon in london.

So whats the scariest moment you've ever exprienced in a zoo....:eek:
 
As a kid some years ago I came running along a narrow "adventure path" in Odense Zoo. I came around a corner and there stood a huge male african lion looking right at me. Of course he was behind glass, but it was brand new at the time and crystal clear so I didn't see it at first. I nearly had a heart attack :eek:
 
When thinking what would happen if I fall/jump into an enclosure inhabitated by a dangerous animal or if sufficient barrier between me and animal would not be there.

And everytime I observe cassowary through a window with just a normal glass I'm felling quite uncomfotable.
 
I had an elephant run across its exhibit towards me and it stopped short of the moat. From then on, the elephant was rather calm and did not really show any aggression throughout the whole experience. But having the elephant runs towards me, had me a bit concerned.
 
The male hamadryas baboon in Phoenix HATED me. Everytime I came up to the glass he would bare his teeth and jump against the glass.
 
unfortunatley i havent beent o that many zoos or had many scary experiences so i'd have to say when a tamarin jumped at the glass at me while i had my back turned it frightened the life out of me.
 
When I was on Zoo Keeper for the day at Chester Zoo, I got my chance to go in the Okapi enclosure with Mbuti.

The keeper had told me he had started to become a little naughty and aggressive towards the keepers, then while watching him he went to charge!

Now ok not the most dangerous animal in the zoo, but a kick would hurt!

Would love to go back in with them thou,
 
As a zookeeper the scariest thing is hearing over the radio "we have an escaped ________ and we don't have it in sight". Even when it's a drill that will get your heart pumping! Any escape, no matter what the animal, is a scary time for animal keepers.
 
I was bringing a bucket of food (fruits etc) to the Stump-tailed macaque's. The male didn't like my presence on the island at that time so he hit the bucket with enormous power out of my hand and started to charge. Haha I was on my 'rescue-boat' just in time. He really scared me, my heart was going crazy...
 
scariest moments....falling into the moated water buffalo enclosure at WPZ and landing about two metres from the 3 buffalo i was photographing before i slipped in the dewy, wet grass. frightened both me and the buffalo. being bitten on the knee by a New Zealand Fur seal at Taronga, being bitten by a jabiru, chased by an emu in Backyard to Bush, red kangaroo. In other zoos black swans, ostrich, sambar deer and Cape Barren Geese have all frightened me.
Scariest moment was when I was standing by the old seal pools at Taronga, as a child, and right next to a lady with a pram. Both of us had our backs to the chain link safety barrier, and when we turned around a massive male sea-lion was perched right behind us, balancing against the fence. the lady was so scared she let go of the pram. Apart from these nothing else really scary
 
Rather scary was in Singapore when I saw two young boys, were throwing sticks at a peacock (free-ranging) I told them off, and once they ran off the peacock continously pecked at me quite viciuosly and it didn't stop until my uncle came over, I was quite scared for a bit, knowing that peacocks can be quite aggresive,

But in Jong's crocodile farm in Sarawak, Malaysia, there was this board walk where in was a wooden jetty like stand the sides were covered in mesh and it had stilts to hold it above the ground. where you could walk on it and view mother crocodiles. There was one underneath me, and it hisses loud! And then it thumped the board below me, I wouldn't move just in case the board could of broke, then it was feeding time but the mother croc underneath me would go to feed she was too corcerned about me, it then thumped the board several more times until it realised I wasn't doing anything I guess and stopped.
 
My scariest moment didn't involve animals but my own phobia - fear of heights. I walked across the lemur bridge at Colchester - admittedly not really high, but you can see through the slats to the nothingness beneath you :eek:
 
My scariest moment is being stuck in the cockatoo aviary at the Kyabram Fauna Park because an emu was standing outside the door making that deep booming noise that they make. It could've just wanted a pat or something but it wouldn't leave until I made it follow me against the wire to the other side of the aviary and then I made a run for it.
 
I was on a work placement at Monarto Zoo and I was transporting a colobus monkey in a holding cage in a wheelbarrow. The colobus was very scared and it reached through the wire cage and grabbed me by my jeans, it missed my crotch by about 2 centimeters!!!

And also re filling the water trough in the bison enclosure was quite scary, we had to stay closer to the keeper vehicle at all times but the bison would stand a few feet away and watch and snort, and they could charge at any time.
 
greetings forum members
my scariest moment involves a male Asiatic lion and a plate glass window that wasn't as strong is is perhaps was meant to be.

I'd just fed the lions at the zoo I was working at, walk round to the front of the enclosure to answer any questions and the lion (who I had a love / hate relationship with) took a short run up and jumped up at the window and BANG it spider webbed, the park was fairly busy grown men screamed and ran off, it was only the laminate on the glass preventing a full scale escape, the area was evacuateed remarkably quickly! Emergency proceedures were put in place and I immediatley went back round to the lion house to try and get the lions (3 of them) in. Oddly enough the male was the first one, with almost a 'oh my god that wasn't meant to happen' look about him

Cheers

Nick
 
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