9 Most Dangerous Zoo Escapees

Zoos are a common field-trip attraction for kids of all ages. They're educational and interesting, but sometimes they can be plain dangerous. It seems like a stretch that any deadly animals would escape from their cages, but many of them are a lot smarter, more curious, or more angry than we give them credit for. Creatures of all kinds seem to take the chance at freedom when the opportunity presents itself or when they are motivated enough to make it happen. These nine zoo escapees were among the most dangerous to ever slip out of their cages, with some incidents ending in injury or death and many that could've been a lot worse.

1. Tatiana the tiger, San Francisco Zoo

   On Christmas Day 2007, shortly after the San Francisco Zoo had closed, a Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped her enclosure. A few days earlier, she had bitten a zookeeper's arm during a feeding, but this time, she caused major damage. One teenager was killed and his two friends were injured. The fatality, Carlos Sousa Jr., had his throat slashed by the animal and many other injuries that led to his death. The two other boys ran to a zoo cafe, leaving a trail of blood that Tatiana followed. Police officers ended up shooting and killing Tatiana. Many believe the boys may have been taunting and provoking the tiger when she escaped her cage, but the walls of the enclosure weren't as high as standards suggested they should be.

2. Egyptian cobra, Bronx Zoo

   Early in 2011, one snake got a lot of attention. When an Egyptian cobra got out of its display in the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo, the snake popped up on Twitter, sending 140-character messages about its adventures in New York. The snake's fake handle sent out tweets about hanging out at Manhattan landmarks and eateries. In reality, the snake was found in a dark, secluded corner of the reptile house and caught without any problems. If the snake had encountered visitors, zoo officials say it doesn't use its venom as a first defense so it probably wouldn't have injected them. The Egyptian cobra's venom, though, can kill a person within 15 minutes by paralyzing the heart and lungs.

3. Jabari the gorilla, Dallas Zoo

   Gorillas are fascinating, intelligent creatures, but we sometimes forget just how strong and dangerous they can be. In 2004, visitors at the Dallas Zoo experienced it firsthand. Jabari, a 300-pound gorilla who was housed in an award-winning habitat, somehow escaped the enclosure and rampaged through the zoo. He bit one woman several times on her legs before grabbing her toddler and gnawing on his head and chest. Jabari made his way into a bird exhibit and bit another woman's arm as she protected her children. A second child was minorly injured. After wandering in wooded zoo areas for more than 30 minutes while zoo workers tried to get a clear shot with their tranquilizer guns, Jabari charged some police officers and they opened fire, killing him.

4. Johnny the rhino, Zoo Miami

   An animal as large as a rhino would have a hard time sneaking out of its cage unnoticed, but even when zoo officials know it's gotten out, the potential for damage is huge. Juanpur (or Johnny for short) is a rhino that weighs more than 4,600 pounds. That's as heavy as a 13-passenger helicopter. In October 2011, Johnny escaped his pen by pushing on a gate that wasn't closed properly. Visitors were all taken to safe areas to avoid any problems. Johnny was herded back to his cage by a bunch of trucks without incident, but things could have gone very badly with such an enormous wild animal. In the early '90s, a woman was attacked and killed when she entered a Swiss zoo's pen containing a rhino and its calf.

5. Chucky the alligator, Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

   This Alabama alligator said "See you later" to his keepers when 2004's Hurricane Ivan struck. Flood waters destroyed his habitat and allowed him to escape while most other zoo animals were evacuated. Alligator wrestlers were called in to find the reptile as quickly as possible, because zoo workers were afraid he wouldn't hesitate to approach humans (and maybe eat them) since he had been fed by humans for so many years, learning to associate them with food. When the team of gator catchers spotted Chucky, two of them swam through the water to try to get him to come out. Neither was hurt in the process, but it doesn't seem like a great idea to be playing around with a beast whose bite is about as powerful as a mid-size sedan crushing you.

6. Juan the bear, Berlin Zoo

   OK, this bear escapee was actually pretty adorable, but his time on the lam could've turned deadly if the zoo workers hadn't been so clever. Juan, an Andean bear in the Berlin Zoo, pulled out all the stops for his daring prison break. First, he found a log to use as a raft so he could float across the moat in his enclosure. Then he scaled a wall and got his first taste of freedom. Zoo staff knew he'd be looking for a getaway vehicle, so they put a bicycle in his path. When he stopped to check it out, they shot him with a tranquilizer gun. Andean bears, which can weigh more than 400 pounds, don't typically attack humans, but Juan was headed for the children's carousel. He probably just wanted a ride, but no one wanted to take the chance that he was really looking for a snack.

7. Nala the lion, Jungleland Wildlife Park, Florida

   While Nala the lion's cage was being remodeled to help keep her safe from recent rains in 1997, she got frightened by a noise and slipped out a small opening. The wildlife zoo is near a residential neighborhood in Florida, and zoo officials and law enforcement officers went door to door warning people to stay inside and bring their pets in with them. Several residents opted to drive their kids to school rather than let them wait at the bus stop until the lion was caught a couple days later.

8. Ichiro the chimpanzee, Ishikawa Zoo, Japan

   Chimpanzees, who have five times the arm strength as a human male, have been known to bite off people's finger through cage bars. There are also plenty of instances of chimps attacking humans and severely injuring them, like the case of the pet chimp in 2009 who maimed a woman's face. But Ichiro, a zoo chimp in Japan, almost became a unique kind of dangerous when he escaped from his habitat in 2008. Ichiro, a 42-year-old primate, slipped out of an unlocked door and hung out on the roof of the building for a couple of hours. Zoo workers tried to coax him down, but when that didn't work, they tried to use a tranquilizer gun. Ichiro grabbed the gun from the zookeeper, but fortunately, he dropped it right away. He was eventually lured down with a banana. That should've been the first thing they tried. Don't these zookeepers watch cartoons?

9. Lion-hating tiger, Ankara Zoo, Turkey

   Most of us probably imagine zoo animals dreaming of revenge against the people that keep them locked up, but this tiger in Turkey had something against his neighboring lion. Some media reports say the tiger escaped his own enclosure and then found a gap in the lion's cage. Others indicate that the tiger may not have escaped and just used a hole between his pen and the lion's. Whatever the details, the tiger reached his paw into the lion's enclosure and severed the cat's jugular vein with one swipe, killing him. The zoo assures potential visitors that all the enclosures are up to standard, but it's hard to trust them in this cat-eat-cat world.

Taken From Online Degree