Five escaped lions put Sydney’s Taronga zoo into lockdown

One adult and four cubs were seen outside enclosure at 6.30am and returned into it just before 9.30am

Five lions broke out of their enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga zoo on Wednesday morning, forcing staff and visitors to hide in “safe zones”.

The lions – four cubs and one adult – were seen outside their enclosure about 6.30am. A “code one” alert soon after sent the zoo into lockdown. Police were called at 7.10am, and the lions returned to their enclosure just before 9am.

A code one is the zoo’s most urgent alert, requiring an emergency response.

Simon Duffy, Taronga’s executive director of operations, told reporters the lions were seen in a “small area adjacent to the main lion exhibit”.

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“A six-foot fence separated them from the rest of the zoo,” he said. “The zoo has very strict safety protocols in place for such an incident and immediate action was taken.”

Mr Duffy said one cub needed to be tranquillised but otherwise the lions “calmly made their way back” to their enclosure.

“All animals are now safe in their back-of-house exhibit and are being closely monitored. I would remind everyone that Taronga zoo itself has its own safety perimeter fence. So at no time did the lions exit that area or exit Taronga zoo.”

Mr Duffy confirmed a review of the incident was under way, with the exhibit to undergo further inspection to ensure it is “100% safe”. He did not make clear how the lions managed to breach their fence enclosure.

Although the zoo was not yet open for general visitors, some members of the public were staying in tents at the park’s overnight “roar and snore” experience, about 100m from the lion enclosure.

Magnus Perri told Sydney media his family was “just about to get breakfast and [zoo staff] came out screaming, yelling ‘code one, you have to get out of your tents ... run come with us’”.

Mr Perri said they ran to a nearby building, were counted by staff and locked in a shower area.

“They told us they have this sort of training every now and then, but then we heard on the radio ‘they are still outside’, so we realised something was out there, and they said: ‘It’s the lions’.” – Guardian