March Matron

Eight years later, the five-foot tall bird, still wearing the zoo leg band, was spotted at the Texas Gulf Coast. He has taken up with a flamingo from the nature reserve in Mexico.

Juan, a spectacled bear, maneuvered a tree trunk in his Berlin Zoo pen and was able to clear the fence of his pen. He went straight to the playground and tried out the equipment. The employees distracted Juan with a bicycle and the keeper successfully tranquilized him. 

Postcard from Fleishhacker Zoo, now the San Francisco Zoo.

In 1964, the local police called a zookeeper at the Fleishhacker Zoo. The police had captured the 13 missing buffalo. The staff were not aware of any missing buffalo. The police called back five hours later. The missing pygmy hippo had been spotted on a nearby road. The staff were not aware of any missing hippos. A third call came in when the missing agouti, a large South American rodent was located.

The escaped Tokyo Penguin swimming in the bay and eluding capture, even when being pursued by the Japan Coast Guard.

A young penguin spent three months waddling around Tokyo. The city was enamored with the little bird and hundreds of calls reporting possible sightings were received. He was finally captured and per staff, had "been living quite happily in the middle of Tokyo Bay."

Munster Zoo, escaped penguin, wandered into the lion enclosure in winter.

At the Münster Zoo in Germany, a young penguin meandered into the lions' den. The lions were taking advantage of sheltered housing and apparently didn't notice the intrusion. It took the staff a day to lure the little bird out with a trail of herring.

An extremely rare black tiger, or melanistic tiger, was born to a white tiger at the Nandankanan Zoological Park in India.

The Nandankanan Zoological Park in India is known for their tiger breeding program and several of the big cats have been born with rare color variants.

A tiger escape drill at the Chengdu Zoo in the Sichuan province.

One of the two men who released Reggie, the family pet, gator, was a former cop. He explained that Reggie was just too hard to handle.   No kidding.

A six-foot gator named Reggie was dumped in an urban lake in Los Angeles. After two years, $180,000 in expenses, and now a seven-foot gator, Reggie was finally captured. 

The Los Angeles Zoo took him in. Days later, he was discovered lounging on a loading dock before the zoo opened. The zoo added additional height to the enclosure. 

The LA Zoo opened in 1966.

In the late 90s, the Los Angeles Zoo had a history of mismanagement, deteriorating infrastructure and at least 35 animal escapes in a five year period.

The simian habitat was originally designed for bears and gorillas Evelyn and Jim were not having it. 

Jim absconded once by ripping a door off its track and once by jumping straight over a twelve-foot wall.

Evelyn the gorilla once swatted a zoo visitor on the butt after escaping.

Evelyn used brains rather than brawn and made it out at least six times. During one escape, she was broadcasted with live helicopter coverage. Evelyn picked flowers, searched for snacks in the trash, and went to visit the giraffes. 

Runaway kangaroo, hanging out in a garden in Lauenhagen, Germany.

A wild boar and fox helped kangaroos escape from a wildlife park near Frankfurt Germany. Three kangaroos, Jack, Mick and Skippy found a hole dug under the interior fence by a local fox. One of the three became entrenched and was left behind. The other two slipped under the exterior fence utilizing a hole dug by a wild boar.

They were returned after, "A very fit policewoman hurled herself onto the kangaroo."

Frank Buck brought over 100,000 animals to the US and starred in several films depicting his adventures and fights to the death with wild beasts. In the1930's, Frank Buck ran a large animal attraction on Long Island. His housed several exotic animals including 570 Rhesus monkeys. A careless maintenance man and a misplaced plank allowed the breakout of almost 200 monkeys. By dusk, 30 had returned on their own and Buck made a public offer to provide a free park pass to anyone who caught and returned a monkey.

Fu Manchu, Orangutan in Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, was awarded an honorary membership in the American Association of Locksmiths.

Fu Manchu, an orangutan in Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, was a remarkable escape artist. Twice he was found outside the enclosure, with his female companion and three children. The zookeepers became diligent about checking locks. However, Fu Manchu and family were found on the roof of the exhibit enjoying the sun.

Finally, the orangutan was observed taking a wire out of his mouth and tripping the latch of one of the doors. Removing all the available wires kept the orangutan family behind locked doors.

Ken Allen, a 29-year-old orangutan died in 2000 from cancer.

"He was dearly loved and he will be sorely missed."

Ken Allen, born at the San Diego Zoo, was named after zookeeper Ken Willingham and security officer Ben Allen. In the nursery, he dismantling his crib and unscrewing every light bulb he could reach.

When free, Ken would "peacefully stroll around the zoo looking at other animals."

In the 1980s, Ken managed to climb out of his pen several times and taught his fellow simians how to break out. Zookeepers were at a loss and even dressed as tourists to try and observe the maneuver. Ken, referred to as Hairy Houdini, wasn't fooled and the escapes occurred at other times.

Finally, rock climbers discovered tiny cracks and imperfections on the walls which the orangutans were able to use as finger and hand holds. The walls were smoothed and the outings ended. 

Mountain Gorilla from Head Like An Orange, which you need to check out . . . right now. Seriously. Go now.

Ken remained enormously popular and played a part in rethinking zoo improvements and animal treatment.

#zoo #green #animals #Penguin

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