Sydney’s Taronga Zoo rushed people camping in the park to safety after discovering five African lions had managed to escape from their enclosure. The zoo found the lions – an adult male named Ato and four cubs – outside their main exhibit early Wednesday morning. “A six-foot fence separated them from the rest of the zoo,” Taronga said in a statement on its website. “The zoo has strict security protocols in place for such an incident and immediate action was taken,” he continued, and people at the site – including staff and guests on the ‘Roar and Snore’ program – were taken to “safe zones”. The lions escaped from their enclosure early Wednesday morning and the alarm was quickly raised [Nine Network via Reuters] Alarms were sounded throughout the zoo, which sits on the north shore of Sydney Harbor and is famous for its views of the bridge and opera house. “They came running into the tent area saying, ‘This is Code One, get out of your tent and run, come now and leave your belongings,’” Magnus Perry told local media as his family left Taronga. The zoo said it took about 10 minutes from the time the lions left the main exhibit for the emergency response to be put in place. Taronga’s five lions, Khari, Luzuko, Malika, Zuri and Ayanna recently turned one year old. The lioness, Maya, remained inside the enclosure with one of the cubs. “This is a major incident and a full review is now underway to confirm exactly how the lions were able to get out of their main exhibit,” said zoo executive director Simon Duffy. Maya remained in the enclosure with one of the cubs. The zoo investigates how the others managed to escape [File: Saeed Khan/AFP] There were no injuries to people or animals, and the zoo reopened as normal later Wednesday.
