Great Escapes From Zoos

Stop that monkey! There’s a moose on the loose! Where did our tiger go?

When animals escape from zoos, the world usually sits up and takes notice. Could we really bump into a bear while putting out the bins? Was that really a zebra I just saw galloping across the road?

Wild animals let loose in the wild? That’s er… wild! And secretly we want them to stay on the run, as long as they stay safe and don’t start eating their way through the neighbourhood. Because, let’s face it, neither man nor beast likes the idea of being couped up behind bars all day, which is why most, when given an escape route, will take it.

That’s certainly the case in the children’s adventure book Wesley Bear Escapes From The Zoo, in which young Wesley, eager to experience the world on the other side of the bars, takes his opportunity to taste freedom.

There have been plenty of other animals who’ve spread their wings or stretched their paws in a bid to see how the people who visit them in the zoo live their lives. Here are just a few examples:

Goldie the Eagle

Late winter, 1965, and – just like Wesley Bear – a golden eagle takes his chance for freedom as his cage was being cleaned. Unlike Wesley, Goldie had the advantage of being able to fly out of the reach of his chasers, which helped him stay on the run (or on the wing) for almost 2 weeks before being recaptured by a keeper from London Zoo. Goldie obviously enjoyed his taste of freedom, because less than a year later, he was at it again, out and about flying over West London for a few days before being recaptured.

Rusty the Panda

Escaping eagles is one thing – but pandas on the run is a little more worrying for the general public, as evidenced by the shouts and screams of those who encounter little Wesley Bear. Rusty, the red Panda made an escape bid for real, slipping through security at the National Zoo in Washington DC. But he only enjoyed a fleeting taste of freedom as he was recaptured and returned to his cage within an hour of his escape. Spoiler: Even Wesley manages to stay on the run longer than that!

Ken the Orangutan

While Goldie the Eagle made two successful escapes from his cage, when it comes to multiple escapes, he was no match for Ken Allen, the beloved ape of San Diego Zoo. Throughout the 1980s – which saw Ken enter his troublesome teenage years - he got out of his cage more than once, his keepers convinced that he loved the challenge of finding new ways out of captivity. However, Ken seemed happy enough with his life at the zoo, as even when he slipped out of his cage, he seemed to just hang around the area, waiting to be captured and put back in again to begin planning his next escape. Small wonder he soon gained the nickname The Hairy Houdini, his fame reaching such heights that his name and face adorned t-shirts and even inspired a song.

Nobby the Elephant

No, not Nellie the Elephant packing her trunk and heading off to the circus. This escapee was Nobby, a distant relative of Nellie perhaps, and certainly an elephant wanting to put distance between himself and his cage! It was the mid 1970s when Nobby, a bull elephant, made his bid for freedom from Chester Zoo in Northwest England, smashing through fencing and heading into a residential area, just as Wesley does – perhaps hoping to gatecrash someone’s dinner. Let’s just say no one left a place at the table for Nobby and leave it at that!

Malu the Binturong

Dartmoor Zoo in Devon, Southwest England, was the scene of one of the latest great animal escapes as Malu, the bearcat, slipped out of its enclosure late in 2023 and was still on the run in the New Year. As little Manu posed no threat to the public, the escape didn’t make the headlines as perhaps it might had she been a leopard (for example). Zookeepers believe she is somewhere in the zoo, but maybe Malu is snuggled up in someone’s Devon home, just like Wesley makes himself comfortable in Freya’s bedroom in his story.

Amber the Red Panda

What’s this? Another red panda on the run? Amber, a resident of Belfast Zoo, took her chance to escape her enclosure when a power problem affected the security system in place in her area of the zoo. She was spotted by members of the public outside the zoo and managed a day on the run before being recaptured in a residential area of the city and safely returned to the zoo.

Nala the Lioness

A big cat on the loose in Florida? It happened for real in the 1990s, with the lioness making her bid for freedom while her handlers were cleaning her cage. Again, the animal made for residential areas in Kissimmee, near the Jungleland Zoo which had been her home. Nala managed a few days on the loose and thankfully nobody was hurt by the prowling predator who was safely returned to her pen at the zoo by her team.

Nikica the Hippo

We’ve saved one of the biggest great escapees to the last. You might have thought it would be tricky for a zoo to lose something as big as a hippo, and for that hippo to stay on the run for a while. But that’s what happened with Nikica who escaped her pen in a Montenegro Zoo when flooding struck the area back in 2010. She made her way via the water to a nearby village where she swam around for a while, much to the delight of locals who looked upon her as a celebrity. The fun was over when the floodwaters receded, as her handlers were able to return Nikica to her cage where she lived happily ever after.

Of course, no animal escape should be taken lightly, and thankfully most have happy endings with the animals being returned to the places they feel the safest. What happens to Wesley in his little adventure on the other side of his cage? Well, you’ll just have to read his little story to your little ones to find out!

Jon Lymon is the writer of stories and picture books for children, as well as less cuddly stories for adults.