Taronga Zoo: Five lions escape exhibit at Sydney zoo - bbc.com

Five lions person sparked a little exigency astatine an Australian zoo aft escaping from their enclosure.

The animals - 1 big and 4 cubs - were spotted extracurricular their grounds astatine Sydney's Taronga Zoo astir 6:30 section clip connected Wednesday (22:30 GMT Tuesday).

The zoo was enactment successful lockdown and 1 cub had to beryllium tranquillised but each lions were secured wrong minutes, a spokesperson said. No-one was injured.

An mentation for the flight has not been given.

But zoo enforcement manager Simon Duffy called it a "significant incident" that would beryllium investigated.

He told section media the lions had entered a tiny country "adjacent" to their grounds - astir 100m from wherever guests were staying astatine the zoo overnight. The main zoo was closed astatine the time.

"At nary clip did the lions exit that [adjacent] country oregon exit Taronga Zoo," helium said.

Mr Duffy added the tiny country was protected by a six-foot obstruction usually utilized to support radical astatine a harmless distance, and the full zoo was surrounded by a perimeter fence.

CCTV footage had shown that a keeper raised the alarm wrong 10 minutes of the escape, the zoo said.

Staff responded rapidly to determination each radical connected the tract to harmless locations, according to Mr Duffy. Four of the lions "calmly made their mode back" to their enclosure.

The lion grounds volition stay closed until further inspections to marque definite it is "100% safe", Mr Duffy added.

Animal escapes astatine Australian zoos are rare.

In 2009, a lioness escaped its enclosure astatine Mogo Zoo, southbound of Sydney, and had to beryllium changeable dormant due to the fact that of the information it posed to the public.