List of zoo escapes

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

The following is an uncomplete list of notable incidents where one or multiple animals escaped from their enclosures at zoos.

Austria

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2012	Salzburg Zoo	Salzburg	Eurasian lynx	One day	A Eurasian lynx named Vivious managed to escape after a storm damaged its enclosure."Salzburg Zoo lynx caught but croc still on the loose after escape". news.com.au. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2024.</ref>

Canada

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2024	Greenview Park and Zoo	Morpeth, Ontario	Red kangaroo	3 hours	A kangaroo escaped the Greenview Zoo by unknown means before being spotted by an Amazon driver and being captured by the Ontario Provincial Police.
2023	Oshawa Zoo	Oshawa, Ontario	Eastern grey kangaroo	Four days	A kangaroo escaped while being transported by truck. It eluded capture for a week before being captured by Ontario Provincial Police.
2023	Waddles 'n' Wags Animal Haven	Eganville, Ontario	Serval	Never found	A serval escaped from a roadside zoo and is presumed dead.
2022	Greater Vancouver Zoo	Langley, British Columbia	Wolf	2 days	Two wolfs escaped from the Greater Vancouver Zoo after a hole was cut in their enclosure. One was recovered safely while the other was struck by a car and killed.
2021	Papanack Park Zoo	Wendover, Ontario	Kangaroo	Unknown	A kangaroo escaped before being found seriously injured on a highway. It was euthanized.
2019	Roaring Cat Retreat	Lambton Shores, Ontario	Lion	Unknown	Two lion cubs escaped from an illegal zoo.
2019	Zoo Sauvage de St-Félicien	Saint-Félicien, Quebec	Wolverine	Never found
2017	Chippewa Park Wildlife Exhibit	Thunder Bay, Ontario	Bald eagle	Never found	Two bald eagles escaped after their enclosure was vandalized. One was never found.
2016	High Park Zoo	Toronto, Ontario	Capybara	35 days	Two Capybara's known as 'Bonnie & Clyde' escaped from the High Park Zoo. One Capybara was captured after 19 days while the other remained on the loose for 35 days.
2016	Papanack Park Zoo	Wendover, Ontario	Lion	2 hours	A lion managed to escape before being shot by police
2015	High Park Zoo	Toronto, Ontario	Indian peafowl	5 days	A peacock escaped his enclosure and explored Toronto before returning to the zoo
2013	Magnetic Hill Zoo	Moncton, New Brunswick	Indian peafowl	One week
2013	Calgary Zoo	Calgary, Alberta	Hippopotamus	Several hours	The two hippopotamus escaped their enclosure during the 2013 flood, but were safely returned by the zoo staff.
2013	GuZoo Animal Farm	Three Hills, Alberta	Yak, Sheep, Coyote, Ostrich, Sika deer	A day
2009	Greater Vancouver Zoo	Langley, British Columbia	Blue-and-yellow macaw	Three days	Chuva the macaw escaped his enclosure before hiding in an RV. The RV driver discovered the bird three days later and returned it to the zoo.
2008	Guha Exotic Animal Reserve	Huntsville, Ontario	Jaguar	1 day	A six year old Jaguar escaped from the now closed zoo, attacking a dog before being shot by police.
2007	Safari Niagara	Stevensville, Ontario	Syrian brown bear	Several hours
2007	Bergeron's Exotic Animal Sanctuary	Picton, Ontario	Japanese macaque	48 hours	Escaped before being tranquilized by a bylaw officer
2006	Chippewa Wildlife Exhibit	Thunder Bay, Ontario	Wolf	One week	A wolf escaped after jumping over its 8-foot fence. The wolf was shot by police.
1997	Bear Creek Sanctuary	Barrie, Ontario	Tiger	2 days	A tiger escaped its enclosure. It was found two days later and tranquilized.
1997	Lickety Split Ranch and Zoo	London, Ontario	Tiger	4 hours
1958	Storybook Gardens	London, Ontario	California sea lion	10 days	A sea lion named Slippery managed to escape his enclosure, travelling into the United States before being caught in Toledo, Ohio.
1939	Calgary Zoo	Calgary, Alberta	California sea lion	3 months	A sea lion named "Buster" became a local celebrity after escaping from the Calgary Zoo and travelling through irrigation canals to Chestermere Lake and then to Bassano where he played with children.

China

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2021	Hangzhou Safari Park	Hangzhou	Leopard	Never found

France

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2021	Trois Vallées zoo	Montredon-Labessonnié	Wolf	Unknown	A pack of wolves escaped after destroying the safety hatches on their enclosure. Four were shot and killed, while five were tranquilized.
2018	Paris Zoological Park	Paris	Guinea baboon	Several hours	50 baboons escaped, causing the zoo to be temporarily shut down.

Georgia

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2015	Tbilisi Zoo	Tbilisi	Hippopotamus, tiger, brown bear, pig, lion, hyena	Multiple days	Over half the animals from the Tbilisi zoo either escaped or were killed during the 2015 Tbilisi flood. One of the tigers also mauled a man to death while eluding capture.

Germany

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2018	Eifel Zoo	Lünebach	Lion, jaguar, tiger, Eurasian brown bear	Several hours	Multiple animals escaped from the private zoo during a flash flood. One bear was shot and the other animals were captured.

Greece

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2022	Attica Zoological Park	Spata	Chimpanzee	20 minutes	A zoo came under scrutiny after shooting a chimpanzee that had escaped.
2018	Attica Zoological Park	Spata	Jaguar	Unknown

Japan

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2012	Tokyo Sea Life Park	Tokyo	Humboldt penguin	82 days

The Netherlands

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2007	Diergaarde Blijdorp	Rotterdam	Western gorilla	Less than a day	Bokito (gorilla)

Poland

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2023	Gdańsk Zoo	Gdańsk	Red panda	A few hours

South Korea

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2023	Children's Grand Park	Seoul	Plains zebra	3 hours	Following the death of his parents, a Plains zebra named Sero escaped from his enclosure. Wandering through the streets of Seoul and running through traffic. Sero was tranquilized and brought back to the zoo.

Spain

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2010	Cocodrilo Park	Gran Canaria	Tiger	Unknown	Three tigers escaped a zoo and were later shot by police.

United Kingdom

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2024	Dartmoor Zoological Park	Devon, England	Palawan binturong	19 days
2024	Amazon World Zoo Park	Isle of Wight, England	Raccoon	Seven days	Four raccoons escaped, with the last being captured seven days later.
2024	Hoo Zoo	Shropshire, England	Capybara	One week
2024	Highland Wildlife Park	Kingussie, Scotland	Japanese macaque	Five days	The macaque, named Honshu, escaped and survived in the wild for five days before being captured after being found eating from a bird feeder two miles away in Kincraig.
2023	Newquay Zoo	Cornwall, England	Red panda	One day
1965	London Zoo	London, England	Golden eagle	12 days	Goldie (eagle)

United States

Year	Zoo	Location	Species	Time loose	Notes
2023-2024	Central Park Zoo	New York City	Eurasian eagle-owl	One year	Flaco the owl escaped from his enclosure, living in Central Park for a year drawing much attention and eluding attempts at being captured.
2023	Dallas Zoo	Dallas, Texas	Clouded leopard	Several hours	A clouded leopard named Nova was intentionally let out of her enclosure by a man named Davion Irvin, who also killed a vulture at the zoo and stole two monkeys.
2022	Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens	Jacksonville, Florida	Black bear	Under an hour	A black bear was shot after escaping its enclosure and attacking a zookeeper.
2021	Minnesota Zoo	Apple Valley, Minnesota	Eurasian eagle-owl	14 days	Gladys (owl)
2018	Audubon Zoo	New Orleans, Louisiana	Jaguar	1 hour, 35 minutes	A jaguar named Valerio managed to escape his enclosure, entering other enclosures in the zoo and killed four alpacas, one emu, and one fox. The jaguar was tranquilized and was not harmed.
2017	Smithsonian National Zoo	Washington, D.C.	Bobcat	Two days
2013	Smithsonian National Zoo	Washington, D.C.	Red panda	One day	Rusty the red panda escaped from his enclosure around 7:30 AM. He was found in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and rescued from a tree by the local humane society.
2011	Muskingum County Animal Farm	Zanesville, Ohio	Bengal tiger, black bear, grizzly bear, wolf, macaque, baboon, cougar, lion	One night	See 2011 Zanesville, Ohio animal escape
2011	Bronx Zoo	New York City	Egyptian cobra	Six days	An Egyptian cobra managed to elude zookeepers and survive nearly a week outside of its enclosure at the Bronx Zoo.
2007	San Francisco Zoo	San Francisco, California	Siberian tiger	One night	See San Francisco Zoo tiger attacks
2005	Sedgwick County Zoo	Wichita, Kansas	Lesser flamingo	17 years	Two flamingos, Flamingo 492 and 347, escaped their enclosure during a storm. One of the flamingos was last seen in Minnesota, while the other was last seen in 2022 in Port Lavaca, Texas.
1997	Oakland Zoo	Oakland, California	American bison	Half an hour
1987	Tracy Aviary	Salt Lake City, Utah	Chilean flamingo	18 years	See Pink Floyd the flamingo
1985-1987	San Diego Zoo	San Diego, California	Bornean orangutan	Usually under an hour	The orangutan Ken Allen escaped his enclosure nine times.
1957	Bronx Zoo	New York City	Platypus	Never found	Penelope (platypus)
1904	Bronx Zoo	New York City	Snow leopard	One day	A snow leopard managed to escape the Bronx zoo before being shot.